On Dec. 22, Donald Trump announced his White House communications team and named Sean Spicer as press secretary and special assistant to the president. Spicer worked with Hope Hicks (strategic communications director) and Dan Scavino (social media director). He also assumed the responsibilities of communication director after Jason Miller turned down the role. But on July 21, Spicer announced his resignation. Here are 14 things to know about Sean Spicer.
1. He came from the RNC.
Like Trump's chief of staff, Reince Priebus, Spicer worked with the Republican National Committee before being tapped for the president-elect's administration. He's served as the RNC communications director for six years, and Priebus, who considered Spicer an ally at the RNC, reportedly campaigned for his appointment to his new role.
2. He has established relationships with the press.
In his 15 years working in Washington communications, Spicer has established a working relationship with the Washington press corps, which should have (theoretically, at least) made his transition to press secretary a relatively smooth one. He regularly appears on cable news and is comfortable speaking to the media.
Many predicted that Spicer's background with Washington press means that he'll provide a more open line of communication than some feared, given Trump's history of limiting media access during his campaign.
3. But that didn't mean he'd stick with the status quo.
In a 2016 interview with Fox News, Spicer told Megyn Kelly, "I think you have to look at everything. And so I don’t know that [the White House press briefing] needs to be daily. I don’t know that they need to be on camera. And I think that’s a view shared by a lot of former White House press secretaries, a view by some in the media, in fact, that the White House press briefings have become somewhat of a spectacle."
4. Like Trump, he's been known to be harsh with the press.
Spicer likes to use his personal Twitter account to voice his problems with specific news organizations and, sometimes, individual journalists.
On the first day of the administration, he held a press conference attacking the press for the crowd estimates they reported in covering the inauguration. He falsely claimed that “this was the largest audience ever to witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe" and did not take any questions. On March 28, he was criticized for telling April Ryan, Washington bureau chief for American Urban Radio Networks, "stop shaking your head." He has also called Politico reporter Tara Palmeri "an idiot with no real sources."
5. He previously worked for George W. Bush
Before settling into his most recent role at the RNC, Spicer had several communications jobs in Washington, including a stint under George W. Bush. Under Bush, he served as assistant United States trade representative for media and public affairs, a job that took him all around the world (according the GOP, he traveled more than 440,000 miles in his two and a half years in the role).
6. And so did his wife.
Spicer's wife, Rebecca Miller Spicer, is currently senior vice president of public affairs & communications for the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA), but according to her profile on the National Council for Adoption's website, she actually worked in the White House under George W. Bush's administration. She was an associate director of communications and produced televised events like bill signings, press conferences, state arrival ceremonies, state dinners, taped messages, and interviews.
7. He was in the Navy.
After college, in 1999, Spicer joined the Navy Reserves. In 2012 he earned a master’s degree in national security and strategic studies from the Naval War College in Newport and has also served as director of the Navy Public Affairs Center Atlantic Reserve Unit in Norfolk, Virginia.
8. He's been openly critical of Trump in the past.
During his campaign, Trump made a lot of statements that made even members of his own party uncomfortable. While Spicer didn't go so far as to publicly denounce Trump, he has spoken out against some of the president-elect's more controversial stances.
After Trump's comments about undocumented immigrants and crime, Spicer told CNN, "I mean, as far as painting Mexican Americans with that kind of a brush, I think that’s probably something that is not helpful to the cause.”
In response to Trump's claim that John McCain wasn't a war hero because he was captured, Spicer was even more direct. “Senator McCain is an American hero because he served his country and sacrificed more than most can imagine. Period. There is no place in our party or our country for comments that disparage those who have served honorably," he said.
9. But he later called his new boss a "champion" of the First Amendment.
Trump has been on the receiving end of criticism for his attitude toward the press. In an interview with MSNBC's Morning Joe, Spicer defended Trump's statements about and treatment of the media, calling him a "champion" of the First Amendment.
“I think there is a concern by some in the mainstream media that he has this ability to communicate directly to the American people via Twitter, Facebook, Instagram,” Spicer said. “But he respects and understands the role of a press in our democracy.”
During the election, Trump blacklisted several major outlets, including the Washington Post and Politico. He also made disparaging remarks about individual journalists, like NBC's Katy Tur, and promised to "open up" libel laws, to make it easier to sue journalists.
10. He supported free trade under Bush.
During his time working with the Bush administration from 2006 to 2008, Spicer was an advocate of free trade, something Trump seemed to oppose during his campaign. Spicer has acknowledged the contradiction here, but has said that people in a lot of professions sometimes have to work with people they don't agree with.
“There are doctors who help people who have done bad things, there are lawyers who defend bad people,” he told the Washington Post. “I don’t think it’s unique to my profession.”
11. Melissa McCarthy played him on Saturday Night Live.
After Melissa McCarthy impersonated Spicer during a surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live, he admitted he thought the performance was actually pretty funny.
While Spicer has said Alec Baldwin's impersonation of Trump has "crossed over to mean," he thought McCarthy's impression was a little over-the-top, saying she needs to "slow down on the gum chewing," according to Extra.
On the other hand, Trump reportedly didn't find the sketch that amusing. According to Politico, the president was concerned that Spicer was being unflatteringly portrayed by a woman.
12. He checked his staff members' phones in an attempt to snuff out leaks.
Amid an escalating number of anonymous leaks from the Trump White House, Spicer called an "emergency meeting" in February with about half a dozen of his staffers to share his frustration over private conversations that ended up in the media, according to Politico. When staffers entered the meeting, they were told to put their electronic devices on the table — including their personal and work phones — for a random check to prove they had nothing to hide.
A White House lawyer who consulted on Spicer's decision was also present, Politico said.
It's unclear if the random search revealed the source of the leaks, but Spicer warned staff that there could be more problems if the leaks persist. As evidenced by the Politico report, what happened at the meeting was also leaked to the media.
13. He said Hitler wasn't as bad as Syria's Bashar Al-Assad.
When asked about the sarin gas attacks on Syria's Khan Sheikoun at an April 11 press conference, Spicer said, "Hitler didn’t even sink to the level of using chemical weapons," in reference to Syrian President Assad. After he was asked to clarify, he continued, "I think when you come to sarin gas, [Hitler] was not using the gas on his own people the same way that Assad is doing" and that he "brought [victims] into the Holocaust centers." (Hitler used gas chambers to exterminate Jews and others en masse during the Holocaust.)
After facing an immediate onslaught of backlash for his remarks, Spicer appeared on CNN to apologize.
"I was obviously trying to make a point about the heinous acts that Assad had made against his own people last week, using chemical weapons and gas. Frankly, I mistakenly made an inappropriate and insensitive reference to the Holocaust, for which there is no comparison," Spicer said. "And for that I apologize. It was a mistake to do that."
"I was trying to draw a comparison for which there shouldn't have been one," he continued. "It was insensitive and inappropriate."
14. He resigned from his job after six months.
Almost since he started, speculation swirled about the future of Spicer's role in the Trump administration. Sources told Politico in a May 18 article that Trump was unhappy with how press briefings were going and was toying with the idea of having deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders take questions more often, while moving Spicer to a senior position behind the scenes. The administration might even just decrease the number of briefings altogether.
Saturday Night Live even poked fun at Spicer's status in the White House, airing a sketch where McCarthy portrayed him as insecure about the job, with Alec Baldwin's Trump giving him the "kiss of death."
On July 21, Spicer resigned from his role over Trump's selection of New York financier Anthony Scaramucci as his new communications director. (Mike Dubke resigned as communications director in May.) "The president requested that Mr. Spicer stay on, but Mr. Spicer told Mr. Trump that he believed the appointment was a major mistake, according to person with direct knowledge of the exchange," the New York Times reported.
This post was originally published on Dec. 23, 2016, and has been updated.
