white-house-press-secretaries

"There are times where you have to be on the journey and recognize that sometimes you don’t know what the end is going to be, right? Maybe it’s going to be great. And maybe it’s not"

"If Roe were to fall, abortion would probably be illegal in about half the states in the country, up to 26 states, particularly in the South, the Midwest, and West, who have all spoken out — many leaders — about how they’re poised to restrict or ban access. Some have even taken action, even as recently as yesterday, as crazy as that sounds."

"The president and the vice president are devoted to ensuring that every American has access to health care, including reproductive health care, regardless of their income, zip code, race, health insurance status, or immigration status"

"I don't think our role is to place blame, but what we can do is provide accurate information to people who are not yet vaccinated about the risks they are incurring not only among on themselves, but also the people around them"

"My armor has always been to do the homework and to be as prepared as you can possibly be. And to ask questions"

"The kinds of people you meet on political campaigns are some of the best human beings. They’re survivors, and they’re spunky, and they have personalities, and they spend months sleeping on couches and living on, whatever, pizza and coffee and bad beer"

"I will note I’m a human being. I’m an Irish person who, not to stereotype myself, but I have times where I get a little hot. I try not to, but there are days where I wish I would’ve been calmer, or more gracious, in my responses when you have a moment of human frustration. But I will tell you that how I try to approach it is trying to use it as a forum for providing information to the public. And trying to treat people, on my best days, with respect"

"When I’m hiring, I’m always looking for people who have the best attitude and will happily make 400 copies and do it with a smile and ask to do more. Oftentimes that’s the differentiator between people"

"I am used to being doubted and being underestimated. And I find that to be a place to thrive"

"Today, in preparation for travel to Europe, I took a PCR test this morning. That test came back positive, which means I will be adhering to CDC guidance and no longer be traveling on the President's trip to Europe."

"What our role is and what we're going to continue to do is make the vaccine available, we're going to continue to work in partnership to fight misinformation, and we're going to continue to advocate and work in partnership with local officials and trusted voices to get the word out"

"The tragedy of the treadmill that's delayed!"

"As much as wages are up and unemployment are down, we — unemployment is down — we also recognize there are longer-term issues we want to address, including inflation"

"One of the big things my dad was running on was changing Washington, breaking that cycle, I felt like the outsider component was important and I thought he had the ability to actually win and defeat Hillary."

"So tired of her smirking dishonesty. Every serious person in politics knows she is a cynical dope and her old man is, at heart, a small time carny hustler. History will judge 'em both harshly."

"I think it’s probably one of -- certainly professionally -- one of the greatest honors that any person could ever have to work in any capacity within this building, and to get to do that up here in such a public way and speak on behalf of the President is absolutely an honor and something I will cherish and hope to do my very, very best every single day; and be as open, honest, and transparent with you all as humanly possible. And we’ll always work to operate at the highest level and certainly with the most amount of integrity as you can."

"Donald Trump has never advocated violence."

"This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration -- period -- both in person and around the globe."

"White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, who was a commander in the Naval Reserves, tried several times to persuade Mattis to appear on Sunday talk shows on behalf of the administration. The answer was always no. "Sean," Mattis finally said, "I've killed people for a living. If you call me again, I'm going to fucking send you to Afghanistan. Are we clear?""

"The President had an incredibly productive set of meetings and discussions with Prime Minister Joe Trudeau of Canada"

"So he has ensured that while he has respect for the Australian people, respect for Prime Minister Trumble..."

"The President had a very cordial conversation with Prime Minister Trumble..."

"To assume someone because of their age or gender, that they don't pose a threat, would be wrong."

"I think sometimes we can disagree with the facts ... But our intention is never to lie to you."

"Business as usual is over. And I think what I mean by that is that you know, the President-elect looks at this and says what’s best for the country? How do we put America and Americans first and stop trying to figure out how we cater to you know, pundits and the establishment class, big donors. He is putting Americans first and foremost. And when he talks about Americans first, he means I don’t care what a bunch of elites tell me or people at a dinner party. He wants to know what American workers care about, what American families care about, what’s going to help American businesses grow."

"Q: ...he said, I am not going to raise taxes on anyone making under $250,000. Is that pledge still active? Robert Gibbs: We are going to let the process work its way through."

"I hear these people saying [Barack Obama]'s like George Bush. Those people ought to be drug tested. I mean, it’s crazy."

"There's no safer investment in the world than in the United States."

"...reports about very innocent people being thrown into detention where they could be held for years without any representation or charges is distressing."

"...I’m sure lots of people would love to ridicule me when I say this, but it is true: many people die from cold related deaths every winter, and here are studies that say that climate change in certain areas of the world would help those individuals."

"I was panicked a bit because I really don’t know about … the Cuban Missile Crisis. It had to do with Cuba and missiles, I'm pretty sure. I came home and I asked my husband, I said, 'Wasn't that like the Bay of Pigs thing?' And he said, 'Oh, Dana.'"

"The telephone companies that were alleged to have helped their country after 9/11 did so because they are patriotic and they certainly helped us and they helped us save lives."

"I think I deserve an apology."

"Helen Thomas: What about the chief of British intelligence saying you were going to fix the facts around the politics? Dana Perino: I think that that’s been debunked. Helen Thomas: It’s never been been debunked. Dana Perino: Well, it’s been debunked by me. Helen Thomas: Good for you. Dana Perino: Good for me."

"Dana Perino: And believe me, there were some people who really wanted me from the podium to go after MSNBC. And I just thought it was a bridge too far, not something that should be done from the White House. If they want to have the DNC bash Fox News all they want, you know, so be it. But, I would not do it from the White House. I don't think it's presidential, and I think people would see through it. Brian Kilmeade: And not only did you not go after them, you gave them interviews, as did the president. Steve Doocy: Sure. Brian Kilmeade: Gave them all interviews. Read Ronald Reagan’s diaries… Dana Perino: Well, towards the end we didn’t do a lot with MSNBC. That’s, that is the case."

"They want to do all of their investigations. I don’t know. All of the thinking that goes into it. But we did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush’s term. I hope they’re not looking at this politically. I do think we ought it to the American people to call it what it is."

"Having said that, I don't want to hug the tar baby of trying to comment on the program — the alleged program — the existence of which I can neither confirm nor deny."

"One of the problems with NPR is that there is so much political correctness that if you've got a name that looks like it was made up by Rudyard Kipling, you've got a better chance of getting hired. I'm a white guy named Tony Snow, for heaven's sake. That's as white as it goes."

"Okay, we will divide the first [of two questions] and let the second die a crib death."

"Well, thank you for the Hezbollah view."

"Reporter: Wait a minute. You said yourself, correctly, that both Bush 41 and Clinton had talks with Hafez al-Hassad — Snow: Which were blazingly pointless."

"Look, I hate to tell you, but it's not always pretty up there on Capitol Hill and there have been other scandals as you know that have been more than simply naughty e-mails."

"What Senator Kerry ought to do first is apologize to the troops. The clear implication here is if you flunk out, if you don't study hard, if you don't do your homework, if you don't make an effort to be smart and you don't do well, you "get stuck in Iraq." But an extraordinary thing has happened since September 11th, which is a lot of people — America's finest — have willingly agreed to volunteer their services in a mission that they know is dangerous, but is also important. And Senator Kerry not only owes an apology to those who are serving, but also to the families of those who have given their lives in this."

"Why doesn't Senator Kerry, rather than saying, I meant to put in the word, "us" — and you try to put in "us" here, left out the word "us" — and if you don't — if you don't, you get stuck in Iraq. Where does "us" fit in? You don't "us" get stuck? I don't understand. It just — it doesn't scan here."

"What Happened, I'll say it again, a Rosetta Stone for understanding the last seven years."

"Here's the thing about Scott McClellan. His performance on the podium suggested he was totally incompetent. He was really badly suited to that job. He hated the public attention and being in front of the cameras. But behind the scenes, well, I've known Scott since 1999, 2000. He actually was inside the circle of trust. That's why his comments are so damning and so critical here, because he did have walk-in access -- something that Tony Snow never did; and Dana Perino would be hard-pressed to have the same kind of relationship."

"My impression is... that this is, what I would call from the Watergate days, a modified, limited hangout, and I say that because, not because he was malevolent in his desire to put it out there, but press secretaries know very little in the big picture of what's happening at the White House. They're pretty much told what the policymakers and what the other political people in the White House would want them to know so they don't compromise themselves and they can try to be as honest as possible when they're out there briefing the press. So that's why I think it's pretty limited, but yet fascinating for what it is, and he certainly does nail a few things down. … I think I've read all the memoirs of everybody who's served at the White House at one time or another, going all the way back as early as I could find them, and this is a very unusual one. My situation was of course testimony. I was under oath; there was an intense investigation going on. This is really not in the same context. I can't really think of anything quite similar. I was thinking of press secretaries. The only one who's become anywhere similar was Ford's press secretary, who resigned over the pardon in his disquiet with the pardon, Jerald terHorst, where he said that he was unhappy with what was going on. Ron Nessen, too, was to a degree fairly frank, but he'd left office. When I look back at all press secretaries, this is probably about the only time I can think of a press secretary coming forward while the President was still there, and laying out some of the ugly truth."

"I don't want to get too fulsome on you. I don't think you're going to be dining out on the book for the rest of your life, but I think this is a primary document of American history. I'm very impressed with it and I think at some point people will be teaching history classes based on it. … This may be the most revealing look at any sitting President since John Dean was sworn in by the Erwin Committee in 1973."

"...I could not say honestly today that this administration does not believe in torture, does not engage in torture."

"I was part of this propaganda campaign, absolutely."