dropping the so-called protective pool, a small group of journalists from the White House pool who shadow the president at all times. Other executive-branch agencies also shut out the press: Tillerson discontinued the tradition of traveling with a pool as well as the practice of press briefings; the Pentagon stopped holding briefings. The White House press briefing became extinct in stages. In the first months of the administration, Spicer stopped allowing television cameras into every daily briefing. Then the briefings ceased being daily. Then weeks began to pass between briefings, and then
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