White House press secretary to hold first briefing in over a year, continues coronavirus media pivot

The White House on Friday will hold its first press secretary briefing in more than a year, as President Trump continues to express concerns about public relations around his coronavirus response. 

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany will lead an on-camera press briefing with reporters at 2 p.m. The last formal White House briefing with a press secretary was held March 2019 by Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

"I don't think anybody has done the job that we've done, other than at public relations, because the press just won't talk about the facts," Trump said at the White House Thursday when discuss his administration's handling of the coronavirus.

Last month, former White House press Secretary Stephanie Grisham left her position as Trump's chief spokesperson and was replaced by McEnany, who was then the national press secretary for the Trump 2020 campaign.

Grisham held the press secretary position for less than a year, and she maintained a lower-profile throughout, compared to predecessors Sanders and Sean Spicer. She did not hold a press briefing during her tenure in office. 

The press secretary change came amid broader changes to Trump's communications team, with Alyssa Farah last month joining the White House as director of strategic communications, a move from her prior role as press secretary for the Defense Department.  

Last month, the White House also announced that Ben Williamson, currently senior adviser to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, would work as a senior communications adviser. 

An ongoing feud between the White House press corps and the conservative television network One American News Network has escalated, with the network asking the administration to intervene and exert greater control over the White House press briefing room.

In a letter to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, legal counsel for OANN argued the White House is federal property and access to its press room should be governed in a manner similar to that of the Supreme Court, which does not have a federal nonprofit status to control press room access.

Currently, the White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA), a private nonprofit organization, maintains a seating chart that limits press access to White House briefings.