The temperature was rising before the cameras started rolling. Reporters with assigned seating jealously guarded against the occasional poachers who were inevitably but politely evicted and sent scrounging for a spot to squeeze into along the already crowded aisles.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt made her briefing debut on Tuesday, where she sparred with reporters over a federal freeze on grants and made clear that President Donald Trump himself will be the administration's main messenger.