Sean Spicer Regrets Lying About Trump Inauguration Size

Sean Spicer

In the aftermath of his surprise appearance at last night's Emmy Awards, former White House press secretary Sean Spicer told the New York Times that he does have some regrets from his time behind the White House podium.

In an interview on Monday morning, Mr. Spicer said he now regrets one of his most infamous moments as press secretary: his decision to charge into the White House briefing room in January and criticize accurate news reports that Barack Obama’s inauguration crowd was bigger than President Donald J. Trump’s.

“Of course I do, absolutely,” Mr. Spicer said.

[snip]

As Mr. Spicer prepared to return to Washington, he was asked if he was worried about President Trump taking offense over the skit — which many viewers saw as lampooning the president’s preoccupation with the size of his inauguration crowd.

“I certainly hope not,” Mr. Spicer said after a brief pause. “This was an attempt to poke a little fun at myself and add a little bit of levity to the event.”

Spicer's big moment came in the opening sequence as host Stephen Colbert mused aloud about how many people might be watching the Emmy Awards.

Spicer appeared onstage with a mockup of his former press briefing room podium and recited almost verbatim his now famous "inaugural crowd size" announcement. “This will be the largest audience to witness an Emmys, period — both in person and around the world,” he declared with a semi-straight face.

The Times piece also chronicles the lengths Emmy producers went to in order to keep Spicer's appearance a secret including Spicer traveling from Washington to LA "in disguise."