Speculation is growing over the future of Sean Spicer, Donald Trump’s press spokesman.
Up until now Mr Spicer, whose relationship with the White House press corps has been at best uneasy and at worst hostile, has enjoyed the full backing of the president.
But Mr Trump has stopped short of giving Mr Spicer a full vote of confidence in an interview with Judge Jeanine Pirro, one of his most loyal supporters, on Fox News.
Asked if Mr Spicer would carry on as his spokesman, Mr Trump replied: “He’s doing a good job but he gets beat up.”
Challenged whether Mr Spicer was his press secretary “today and tomorrow” Mr Trump responded: “Yeah, he is, sure.”
Pressed once again by Ms Pirro to confirm that Mr Spicer would remain in post in the future, Mr Trump’s reply was equivocal, saying he’s “been there from the beginning.”
This less than full-throated endorsement of Mr Spicer by his boss came after yet another difficult week for his spokesman, following the abrupt sacking of James Comey, the FBI director.
The handling of the announcement was of Mr Comey’s dismissal was chaotic. An emailed statement was slow in reaching its audience and then with the press corps demanding an explanation, Mr Spicer declined to respond on camera.
Instead according to the Washington Post, he insisted on doing an off camera briefing – at one point almost hidden by a couple of tall bushes.
Not for the first time, this provided material for Mr Spicer’s critics to engage in a bit of mockery with some wags putting cardboard cutouts in their own shrubbery.
With Mr Spicer on naval reserve duty for much of the week, it fell to his deputy, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, to handle the fallout and, by all accounts, she did so with aplomb.
The job of being spokesman for as volatile a president as Donald Trump was never going to be easy. But there were signs that things had been settling down with Mr Spicer developing a reasonable working relationship with the “mainstream media”
But there have been times when Mr Spicer has been the author of his own misfortune.
Last month his attempts to explain why the US had bombed Syria descended into chaos when, in trying to emphasise the brutality of the Assad regime, Mr Spicer said that even Hitler did not use chemical weapons.
Although he apologised profusely for the gaffe, the damage was done.
Mr Spicer has also been subjected to merciless ridicule on the popular comedy show, Saturday Night Live thanks to a savage impersonation by the actress, Melissa McCarthy.
According to some reports in Washington, Mr Trump is less than happy at his spokesman being lampooned, feeling it makes him look weak.
In his interview with Ms Pirro, Mr Trump said that Mr Spicer was a nice man who has had to deal with unprecedented hostility from the press.
Ominously, however, the president suggested scrapping the regular press conferences from his communications team, suggesting that he might field the questions himself.
