ABC News(WASHINGTON) — White House press secretary Sean Spicer defended the president’s record less than a week before the benchmark of the administration’s first 100 days in office.
“When you look at the totality of what we’ve accomplished … it is unbelievable what he has been able to do,” Spicer said at Monday’s press briefing.
He bristled at questions specifically asking whether the president would consider inaction or stalled action on issues that were regular parts of his campaign speeches a failure, including the promise to repeal and replace Obamacare.
Spicer said “you can cherry pick” issues “to look and pick out two or three things” that were not completely addressed during the first 100 days but argued that it would be an inaccurate picture of the administration’s work.
“It’s easy to nitpick,” Spicer said.
“I don’t think there’s any question that the president has done a significant amount on the issues that he put forward in the campaign,” he said, citing how Trump has signed “a record number” of executive orders.
“We are very proud and the president is very proud of what he’s been able to accomplish in the first 100 days … but we also want to start talking about the next 100 days,” Spicer said.
Spicer also said that while he “can’t guarantee” a government shutdown will be avoided, he doesn’t think it’s going to happen.
“I can’t guarantee,” Spicer said of ongoing budget negotiations. “But I think that the work that [Office of Management and Budget] Director [Mick] Mulvaney and others have made in this front and negotiations have been very positive. They feel very confident that won’t happen.
“We feel very confident that the government is not going to shut down,” he said.
.@PressSec tells @jonkarl he’s “confident” there won’t be a government shutdown, but “can’t guarantee” it. https://t.co/HhAaTPXHds pic.twitter.com/BwzxSRAbyc
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) April 24, 2017
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