Spicer shut down cameras during White House briefings so Trump wouldn't yell at him: report

The decision to shut down the cameras in the White House press briefing room has been criticized as an assault on free press, but according to New York Times reporter Glenn Thrush, there's an interesting motivation behind the decision.

Thrush says the change came down from now former press secretary Sean Spicer, who apparently didn't want President Trump to criticize him about how he was doing his job.

Thrush said, quote, "A lot of us assume, and I think the punditocracy assumed, this was an assault on broadcast journalism. In fact most of it was Spicier not wanted to be on camera so Donald Trump would not yell at him."

Former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer:

Thrush, the Times' White House correspondent said the president didn't think Spicer was tough enough and said this moment from Spicer went too far.

"You look we didn't use chemical weapons in WWII. You had someone as despicable as Hitler who didn't even sink to using chemical weapons."

Spicer resigned from his post Friday as part of a huge White House communications staff shake up.

That including the hiring of new communications director Anthony Scaramucci.