White House press secretary vows to “never lie” to the press

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany briefed reporters Friday afternoon in the first formal briefing by a press secretary in over a year. Former press secretary Sarah Sanders held the last briefing in March 2019.

McEnany addressed President Trump’s being asked on Thursday if he has a “high degree of confidence” that the coronavirus originated in the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and he said he does. Mr. Trump said the World Health Organization “should be ashamed of themselves,” and the organization “shouldn’t be making excuses when people make horrible mistakes, especially mistakes that are causing hundreds of thousands of people around the world to die.”

The U.S. intelligence community has said it is still investigating, and also concluded that the coronavirus “was not man-made or genetically modified.”  

“Intelligence is just an estimate, essentially,” McEnany said. 

As for Mr. Trump’s threat of tariffs on China, McEnany said she would not get ahead of the president in making an announcement on them. 

Although Mr. Trump’s press secretaries have a history of making false statements at the podium, McEnany promised she would “never lie” to reporters.

“I will never lie to you. You have my word on that,” McEnany said. She also said she would continue to hold press briefings. Stephanie Grisham, who was last press secretary before McEnany, did not hold any briefings in the 10 months she served in the position.

McEnany announced that the administration would send $12 billion to the 395 hospitals that have been hardest hit by the coronavirus. Hospitals in New York, New Jersey, and Illinois will receive the majority of the funds.

Dan Scavino Jr., the White House deputy chief of staff for communications, announced in a tweet Thursday evening that McEnany would be holding the briefing. 

McEnany was named the new White House press secretary in April. She previously served as a spokesperson for the Trump campaign, and a frequent surrogate for the president on cable news.

McEnany’s briefing comes after weeks of daily press conferences by the White House Coronavirus Task Force, led by Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump has minimized his appearances in the past week, attending only one formal press briefing on Monday.

The task force conferences often lasted two hours or more, with the president stirring controversy over his claims about the spread and mitigation of the coronavirus pandemic.