NEW YORK (AP) – A shouting match with a reporter. A long unexplained prop. An unexpected interlude from a lawyer.
Donald Trump’s raucous first news conference as president-elect bore little resemblance to the usually staid and choreographed sessions with the occupant of the Oval Office. It was a 58-minute display of how some of the old rules of journalism will be tested in the Trump era.
More than 250 journalists packed Trump Tower for the celebrity businessman’s first full-fledged news conference since July, which was billed as a forum to discuss his separation from his business but quickly turned into a loud, wide-ranging free-for-all about U.S. intelligence, Russian hacking and, eventually, some of Trump’s policy plans after he takes office on Jan. 20.
Only one seat was saved by a Republican National Committee aide, a front-row spot for a reporter from Brietbart, the conservative news outlet until recently run by Trump senior adviser Steve Bannon. Other reporters scrambled to save their seats. Reporters shouted and waved their arms at Trump to get his attention, rather than the president calling on questioners from a list, as is often the practice.
Trump stood at a podium next to a pile of manila folders on a table. But only well into the press conference did he later explain the papers were documentation of his new business arrangement, details of which were explained only when Trump abruptly ceded the stage to his lawyer. Trump staffers blocked reporters from examining the folders.