The incoming Trump administration wants to boot reporters from the White House — potentially invoking a nuclear option in its escalating war against members of the Fourth Estate.
Esquire magazine, citing three senior officials on Trump’s transition team, first reported the possible eviction plan, which would move the media from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. to either the Eisenhower Executive Office Building across the street or to the White House Conference Center at Lafayette Square.
“They are the opposition party,” one senior official told the magazine. “I want ’em out of the building. We are taking back the press room.”
Incoming White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said Sunday that any moves will be made because of space considerations. He cited Trump’s press conference last week that drew 500 reporters — far more than the 49-seat Brady room could hold.
The outgoing RNC chief also stuck to talking points that broadly define the “White House,” going well beyond the West Wing and including the Eisenhower conference room.
“So no one is moving out of the White House,” Priebus told ABC’s “This Week.”
“That is the White House, where you can fit four times the amount of people in the press conference, allowing more press, more press coverage from all over the country to have those press conferences. That’s what we’re talking about.”
But when asked specifically whether reporters would be allowed to work in the White House — aside from larger press conferences — Priebus was noncommittal.
“That hasn’t been determined,” he told NBC’s “Meet The Press.”



