
 
 Sean Spicer, right, and Jason Miller, left, talk with the media at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster on Nov. 19. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) 
 
 President-elect Donald Trump named Republican National Committee official Sean Spicer as White House press secretary, filling what is likely to be a challenging position given Trump’s sometimes hostile relationship with the media and his propensity to bypass staff to communicate directly with the public on Twitter. 
 
 Spicer, the RNC’s communications director since 2011 and chief strategist since 2015, has become an increasingly visible presence on Trump’s team since the GOP nominee won the election on Nov. 8. Noted for his combative television interviews, he helps to lead daily transition news media calls and has a close relationship with RNC chairman Reince Priebus, Trump’s incoming chief of staff. 
 
 Trump also announced that longtime aide Hope Hicks, his campaign press secretary, will serve as director of strategic communications, and Dan Scavino will continue his current role as director of social media. Jason Miller, who leads the transition calls, will be communications director. 
 
 [Trump names campaign manager Kellyanne Conway as White House counselor to the president] 
 
 Spicer, Miller, Hicks and Scavino will all hold the title of assistant to the president, in addition to their other titles. 
 
 “Sean, Hope, Jason and Dan have been key members of my team during the campaign and transition,” Trump said in a statement. “I am excited they will be leading the team that will communicate my agenda that will Make America Great Again.” 
 
 The announcement left open how Spicer, Miller and Hicks will divide up the communications work. Traditionally, the White House press secretary has served as the main conduit between the president and global media through daily news conferences. 
 
 Priebus suggested last week that this practice could change in the new administration. 
 
 “Look, I think that many things have to change, and I think that it’s important that we look at all of those traditions that are great, but quite frankly, as you know, don’t really make news,” Priebus said in an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. 
 
 “And you know, even looking at things like the daily White House briefing from the press secretary, I mean, there’s a lot of different ways that things can be done, and I can assure you we’re looking at that.” 
 
 Spicer went a bit further in a recent interview with Fox News. 
 
 “I think you have to look at everything. And so I don’t know that it [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,” Spicer told anchor Megyn Kelly on Dec. 15. 
 
 The comments raised questions among transparency and press freedom advocates already concerned by limitations placed on the media by Trump’s team. ||||| President-elect Donald Trump named Sean Spicer his White House press secretary. | Getty Trump names his White House communications team 
 
 Top transition aides will serve as senior members of the incoming White House communications staff, including Republican National Committee strategist Sean Spicer as press secretary, President-elect Donald Trump announced Thursday. 
 
 Spicer, Hope Hicks, Jason Miller and Dan Scavino will all serve in the West Wing as assistants to the president. Hicks will merge Trump’s legislative agenda with communications, with her formal role being strategic communications director. Miller will lead the administration’s communications efforts as communications director, and Scavino is in charge of social media as social media director. 
 
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 “Sean, Hope, Jason and Dan have been key members of my team during the campaign and transition,” Trump, who has not held a news conference since July, said in a statement. “I am excited they will be leading the team that will communicate my agenda that will Make America Great Again.” 
 
 They join Trump’s former campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, a senior adviser to the president-elect whom the transition team announced Thursday morning will serve in the White House as a counselor to Trump. 
 
 Trump has focused the first six weeks of his transition on filling out his high-profile Cabinet, holding meetings inside Trump Tower daily as reporters identify who’s who and speculate what positions anyone spotted walking toward the elevator may land. 
 
 But with fewer than 30 days until his inauguration, Thursday’s announcements are the biggest inroads Trump has made with his White House staff since naming RNC Chairman Reince Priebus his White House chief of staff and campaign CEO and former Breitbart executive Steve Bannon a chief strategist and senior counselor — positions Trump cast as co-equals. 
 
 Spicer, the Republican National Committee’s communications director and chief strategist, has worked as a senior communications adviser to Trump during the transition. He had told reporters Thursday morning they could expect “further announcements on appointments and staff later today” and additional announcements “in the near future on fulfilling the final Cabinet positions.” 
 
 He and Miller, the transition team’s communications director, host daily briefings with the press on Trump’s schedule and take questions. 
 
 Hicks, the transition’s press secretary, and Scavino, the transition’s social media director, have been with Trump since he launched his campaign, serving the same role through the campaign and transition — and, in Scavino's case, into the White House, too. 
 
 Trump likely made his final deliberations Wednesday. Miller said Trump spent Wednesday holding “internal staff meetings” at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, where he will remain over the Christmas holiday. 
 
 Trump’s White House communications staff will likely differ significantly from President Barack Obama’s team. Obama, for instance, largely relies on his staff to tweet out his message. Trump, however, likes to control his own message, often casting 140-character-or-less missives from his personal Android phone — and his transition team generally opts to tell the press that his tweets speak for themselves rather than attempt to explain the rationale behind them or provide any context. 
 
 Conway took issue last week with current White House press secretary Josh Earnest’s performance behind the lectern after the Obama administration spokesman suggested Trump, who has repeatedly denied U.S. intelligence that Russia meddled in the presidential election, knew Russia was responsible for cyberattacks on the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta’s personal email account. 
 
 “I guess he’s auditioning to be a political pundit after his job is over soon,” she said at the time. “That is incredibly disappointing to hear from the podium of the White House press secretary.” 
 
 And Trump’s transition team has already signaled to the White House press corps that change is coming. Priebus told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt last week that Trump’s team might shake things up. 
 
 “I think that many things have to change, and I think that it’s important that we look at all of those traditions that are great, but quite frankly, as you know, don’t really make news,” Priebus said. “And they’re just sort of mundane, boring episodes. And you know, even looking at things like the daily White House briefing from the press secretary, I mean, there’s a lot of different ways that things can be done, and I can assure you we’re looking at that.” 
 
 Even reserved seating, which Priebus incorrectly asserted wasn’t an issue until the Obama administration took over, could get reshaped. 
 
 “The point of all of this conversation is that the traditions, while some of them are great, I think it’s time to revisit a lot of these things that have been done in the White House, and I can assure you that change is going to happen, even on things that might seem boring like this topic,” he said. 
 

– Donald Trump announced his White House communications team Thursday with former RNC communications director Sean Spicer nabbing the role of White House press secretary, Politico reports. The rest of the team will be Hope Hicks as strategic communications director, Jason Miller as communications director, and Dan Scavino as social media director. “Sean, Hope, Jason, and Dan have been key members of my team during the campaign and transition,” Trump said in a statement. “I am excited they will be leading the team that will communicate my agenda that will Make America Great Again.” Trump likely made the final decisions on his communications team Wednesday during "internal staff meetings" at Mar-a-Lago. Spicer, believed to have been the favorite for the press secretary role due to his connections with incoming chief of staff Reince Priebus, calls it an "amazing honor," Fox News reports. But the Washington Post notes it's "likely to be a challenging position given Trump's sometimes hostile relationship with the media," not to mention his habit of unfiltered tweeting. On the other hand, CNN reports Spicer's appointment could be seen as a "positive sign" for members of the media afraid Trump would limit press access to his administration. After 15 years doing communications for Republicans in Washington, Spicer knows the "press relations game" in the city.