VETS: “Secretary David Shulkin on Wednesday [5-31-17] briefed reporters about changes at the Department of Veterans Affairs, putting a different face behind the White House podium as top aides consider reshaping the way the Trump administration briefs the press daily.
Sean Spicer, the aide usually tasked with going camera before reporters, also stepped behind the podium on Wednesday, but the White House press secretary offered a 12-minute briefing that remained off camera and contained little new information.
Spicer, aides said earlier this month, will likely appear on camera less in the coming weeks as the White House considers how to revamp a communications department.
White House communications director Mike Dubke resigned earlier this week and Spicer himself said on Tuesday that Cabinet secretaries will begin to do more briefings.
Putting the oft-behind the scenes Shulkin on-camera also stopped the White House from making Trump available on Wednesday. A White House official told CNN that Trump would not do a bilateral news conference with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc because Shulkin went before the cameras.”
-Dan Merica, “Spicer off-camera, VA secretary on-camera in new White House effort,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, May 31, 2107 4:00pm