Beyond 'no comment': The White House has no response -- at all -- to many media questions

Source: Washington Post

Beyond ‘no comment’: The White House has no response — at all — to many media questions

By Paul Farhi
December 31, 2018

The New York Times published a powerful story last week about President Trump’s growing isolation in the White House, with colorful details such as Trump’s tendency to interrupt advisers during meetings to call them “freaking idiots” (except he doesn’t use the word “freaking”).

Asked to comment by the Times’s reporters about this, the White House said nothing. It did not respond.

Similarly, it offered no response when The Washington Post asked the White House about Trump’s false claim during a post-Christmas Day visit to U.S. troops in Iraq that he boosted military pay by 10 percent.

Reporters are used to officials who respond to their inquiries with a terse “no comment.” This was typically the practice in prior presidential administrations when officials saw no strategic value in rebutting an unflattering story.

But as in so many things, the Trump administration is different. Instead of “no comment,” Trump’s press representatives often don’t bother saying anything at all.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/beyond-no-comment-the-white-house-has-no-response--at-all--to-many-media-questions/2018/12/31/feb2837c-0d1a-11e9-84fc-d58c33d6c8c7_story.html