President Donald Trump has threatened to shut down daily press briefings as he seeks to defend the White House from criticism of its shifting explanations and misstatements about the firing of FBI Director James Comey.
Trump's statements, through a tweet and later television interview, threaten a Washington institution that is the most high-profile forum for journalists to question the government about policy and the news of the day.
In the Trump era, it has become a cable TV hit and cultural touchstone.
Press Secretary Sean Spicer, who was back behind the podium on Friday to answer questions about Comey's firing after Sarah Huckabee Sanders replaced for him for two days, has been the subject of memorable lampoons by comic Melissa McCarthy on Saturday Night Live.
The White House first said this week that Trump sacked Comey because of a negative memo about him from the Justice Department, only to have the president later say he made the decision before seeing the memo, resulting in considerable media discussion.
That led Trump to tweet, "As a very active President with lots of things happening, it is not possible for my surrogates to stand at podium with perfect accuracy."
"Maybe the best thing to do would be to cancel all future 'press briefings' and hand out written responses for the sake of accuracy???"
In an interview with Fox News Channel's Jeannine Pirro set to air on Saturday, Trump suggested eliminating the daily briefings and instead having one every two weeks - conducted by him.
"First of all, you have a level of hostility that's incredible and it's very unfair," he said.
He added that Spicer is a nice man "but he gets beat up."
Trump would not directly answer questions about whether Spicer, who was absent due to Naval Reserve duty, will remain in his job.
Like many administrations, the relationship between Trump and the press has been tense.
Starting with Spicer's claim that the media inaccurately portrayed the size of Trump's inauguration audience, there have been questions about whether the administration is knowingly providing inaccurate information.
There was some talk as Trump took office that his administration would do things differently and cut back on press access. But Spicer and his team have kept up regular briefings.
