Panel at Institute of Politics: L to R: David Axelrod, Sean Spicer and Robert Gibbs
By Mark Weyermuller -
Sean Spicer confirmed it – President Elect Donald Trump will be Tweeting from the White House.
Spicer, who will be the Trump Administration's press secretary, spoke Wednesday night to a group consisting mostly students at Chicago's Institute of Politics. About 250 attended the sold-out event, along with substantial number of local media.
The Institute of Politics is a non-partisan extracurricular organization at the University of Chicago. This according to their website, the group "aims to inspire and cultivate the next generation of political and public service leaders." They offer a large array of speakers, with all events being free with a required RSVP.
The panel discussion with Sean Spicer was moderated by Executive Director Steve Edwards with David Axelrod and former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on the panel. Afterwards, they took several questions from students.
Upon arriving, I found three anti-Trump protesters outside the venue. Once the event inside started another protester stood up disrupting the presentation with a rant against Trump. He was removed by security without incident.
Prior to the event, a student posted on social media that he was going to get a group of students to have "projectile vomiting" at the beginning of the presentation in an organized disruption. This did not take place. The same group also spoke of doing property damage to get message out against Trump including "flipping cars."
Fox News' Tucker Carlson interviewed on of the students HERE.
There was a large security presence at this event. For the most part, events at University of Chicago go off without a hitch. Last year, Cook County States Attorney Anita Alvarez was forced off the stage as protesters disrupted her speech.
This panel was quite interesting with much discussion about Twitter, fake news and the future of the White House Press Corps. Spicer indicated there will many changes with Trump as president. He said as indicated this week, that Trump will "drive the news" and quite often it might be from his Twitter feed. He also said the press corps may be expanded to Include "new" media, and even some smaller local bloggers.
Afterwards Spicer posed for photos, including one with a large group from the College Republicans. I got a chance to chat with him for a moment. I told him I would like to be one of those bloggers someday in the White House Briefing Room.
View the discussion HERE.
