Under Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the State Department has held just 10 "daily" press briefings in more than 80 days, ABC News reported Monday. Since Pompeo's swearing-in ceremony on May 2, 82 days ago, there is only one State Department spokeswoman who has delivered official briefings: Heather Nauert, who "travels with Pompeo for all his trips — something that she rarely did with her previous boss, Rex Tillerson — so she has been out of the country for days at a time with him," ABC News notes.
Because of Nauert's more extensive travel under Pompeo's leadership, there is a gaping void at the State Department's lectern. Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez (N.J.) sent the department a letter, obtained by ABC News on Monday, that urged Pompeo to resume daily briefings to the press. "At a time of unprecedented, head-spinning developments for U.S. foreign policy, our relationship with our allies, and our role on the world stage, the lack of interaction with the American public and the world via the press is particularly concerning," Menendez wrote, per ABC News.
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