September 21, 2017

If You Text Sean Spicer He’ll Contact the “Legal Authorities”

So don’t do it!

Buckner/Rex Shutterstock/ZUMA Press

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Two months after leaving the Trump administration, former White House press secretary Sean Spicer says he’s not trying to rehabilitate his image—which is good, because he’s doing a very bad job at it.

Instead, he’s embarked on a sort of anti-rehab tour, in which he doubles down on all the qualities that made him a national punchline. Spicer, who made a surprise cameo at the Emmys on Sunday to joke about his reputation for making false statements to the public, appeared on Good Morning America on Thursday, where he was asked point-blank if he had ever lied to the American people. “I don’t think so,” Spicer said. He was asked a second time. Spicer’s eyes flicked to his left, then he glanced upwards, and he continued: “Look, I have not knowingly done anything to do that, no.”

Although that, in itself, was a lie, Spicer nonetheless turned his fire on his critics, telling GMA’s Paula Faris that “the personal attacks, questioning my integrity…you know, what my intentions were, I think, were really over the top.”

Seemingly determined to show that he has not, in fact, learned anything, Spicer has also reached new heights in stonewalling reporters. On Wednesday, when Axios‘ Mike Allen texted him for a comment for a story on the role Spicer’s notebooks may play in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, Spicer wrote back to demand Allen stop bothering him—or he would contact “legal authorities”:

Per my text:

Please refrain from sending me unsolicited texts and emails

Should you not do so I will contact the appropriate legal authorities to address your harassment

Thanks

Sean M Spicer

Please do not call or text Sean Spicer.

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THE BIG PICTURE

You expect the big picture, and it's our job at Mother Jones to give it to you. And right now, so many of the troubles we face are the making not of a virus, but of the quest for profit, political or economic (and not just from the man in the White House who could have offered leadership and comfort but instead gave us bleach).

In "News Is Just Like Waste Management," we unpack what the coronavirus crisis has meant for journalism, including Mother Jones’, and how we can rise to the challenge. If you're able to, this is a critical moment to support our nonprofit journalism with a donation: We've scoured our budget and made the cuts we can without impairing our mission, and we hope to raise $400,000 from our community of online readers to help keep our big reporting projects going because this extraordinary pandemic-plus-election year is no time to pull back.

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