In the first State Department briefing of the year, Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino defended the lack of briefings.
"We haven't seen you in a while, Robert," one reporter noted at the briefing on Thursday. "This is the first briefing this year."
"Thank you for noticing," Palladino retorted.
"Last year, there were 61 briefings," the reporter continued. "By comparison, in 2016, there were 219 briefings for the year. Why are there so few briefings and is this ever going to be a daily briefing again?"
Palladino insisted that Secretary Mike Pompeo has "taken a lot of steps in increase media engagement at the State Department."
"What's the problem with having a daily briefing though when past administrations have had them nearly every day?" the reporter pressed.
"We have had a government shutdown," Palladino said, drawing objections from reporters in the room.
"The shutdown was a few weeks," one correspondent pointed out.
"I reject the premise," Palladino remarked, moving to the next reporter. "Let's look forward. Please."
"You can't reject the premise," the correspondent shot back. "The premise is factual. You can just count up the number of briefings... where you are expected or should be able to cover the world and tell us what U.S. policy is."
"We've got a lot of different ways to communicate," Palladino interrupted. "And we're going to be providing information in many different ways."
But the reporter refused to move on.
"There was a time when there was both a deputy spokesman and a spokesperson. Remember those times?" the correspondent observed as Palladino poured a glass of water.
"Why don't we get a deputy deputy... or get a new spokesperson?" the reporter asked.
"We will hire you for personnel soon," Palladino quipped. "These are good suggestions."
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