White House takes over briefing room seating in latest dust-up with Washington press corps

The Trump administration is preparing to take control of the seating assignments in the White House press briefing room, potentially elevating conservative news outlets to more visible positions to pose more questions to press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

A White House official confirmed the move but did not provide any details, including whether any outlets will be removed from the briefing room or if the seating chart will be rearranged.

The move had been widely expected since Mr. Trump returned to office in January.

Currently, the briefing room seating chart is controlled by the White House Correspondents Association, an organization that represents news outlets covering the White House. The Washington Times is a member of the WHCA and has a seat in the White House briefing room.

A wide range of well-established news outlets, including some of the country’s biggest television networks, newspapers, wire services and radio outlets sit in the first few rows.

A total of 60 outlets, with some taking turns, occupy the 49 seats in the briefing room. The WHCA last updated the seating chart in December 2021.

WHCA President Eugene Daniels sent a letter to the organization’s members calling plans to shuffle briefing room seating a “wrong-headed effort.”

“If the White House pushes forward, it will become even more clear that the administration is seeking to cynically seize control of the system through which the independent press organizes itself so that it is easier to exact punishment on outlets over their coverage,” he wrote.

Mr. Daniels said the WHCA reached out on Sunday about a conversation to discuss plans to reassign briefing room seats.

Some Trump allies have cheered the move.

“Yes to this – keeping going @PressSec,” Sean Spicer, Mr. Trump’s first press secretary during his first term, wrote on X to Ms. Leavitt.

If the White House follows through it would be the latest dust-up between the administration and reporters. In February, Mr. Trump banned The Associated Press, which has covered the White House for more than 100 years, because they refer to the newly renamed Gulf of America by its old name, the Gulf of Mexico.

Ms. Leavitt then declared the White House would pick the “press pool” of reporters who travel with the president and attend small-scale events with him where there isn’t room for more reporters. The move stripped the WHCA of its authority to organize and manage the pool.

The White House then began adding conservative-leaning websites and news outlets to press pools as well as daily briefings. Some of those reporters have asked friendly questions to Mr. Trump. For example, a reporter on Friday asked Mr. Trump why “he’s so good to women.”