Spicer said earlier Friday that he occasionally struggles to huddle with Trump during the president's "very robust schedule".
That led Trump to tweet Friday morning, "As a very active President with lots of things happening, it is not possible for my surrogates to stand at podium with flawless accuracy". "He'd been thinking about it for months, which I did say yesterday and have said many times since. the recommendation I guess he got from the deputy attorney general just further solidified his decision and, again, I think, reaffirmed that he made the right one", Sanders said in the White House briefing.
On Friday morning, the President had tweeted, "Maybe the best thing to do would be to cancel all future "press briefings" and hand out written responses for the sake of accuracy???" Sarah Huckabee Sanders, White House deputy press secretary, filled in for Spicer on Wednesday and Thursday.
Mr Spicer took a leave of absence from the daily press briefings over the next couple of days for Navy Reserve duty.
In tweet, Trump suggests canceling all White House press briefings
The other two times Trump said he asked Comey whether he was under investigation were in telephone conversations. Trump told NBC News that Comey is "a showboat, he's a grandstander".
In a preview clip from an upcoming interview with Fox News' Jeanine Pirro, Trump doubled down on the notion of doing away with press conferences, unless "I do it myself", because he just moves too quickly for his beleaguered communications department to keep up. Starting with Spicer's claim that the media had inaccurately portrayed the size of Trump's inauguration audience, there have been questions about whether the administration is knowingly providing inaccurate information. He was expected back at the podium Friday. The president, a devoted viewer of coverage about himself, has given several interviews, most recently to NBC News' Lester Holt on Thursday, although he has favored Fox News' friendlier venue.
The White House said Spicer is missing the briefing because he will be at the Pentagon for the remainder of the week on duty with the Navy Reserve, with which he has served for almost two decades.
Trump: Yeah, well, he's been there from the beginning. Spicer, who is one of the most recognizable figures in the Trump administration, is now on Naval reserve duty during one of the most tumultuous news cycles yet of the young administration. "Another president - I won't use names - but another president doesn't do what I'm doing". He then defended Mr Trump's idea to get rid of the briefings.
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