The White House has signed off on the contract to provide a White House Press Secretary for a reported $25 million, Politico has learned.
The contract is for “general contract management services” that includes hiring and training new press officers, according to a source familiar with the matter.
POLITICO first reported the contract in July.
In the meantime, the Associated Press has reported that the White, House Correspondents Association, the union representing the newsroom and the AP also agreed to pay the contractor to provide “general management services.”
The contract was first reported by the AP.
AP sources tell Politico that the contract will provide “a dedicated press liaison and press secretary.”
Politico first reported in July that the AP would pay the $25.4 million contract for a press secretary, who would be responsible for “a general level of staffing and logistics support.”
The AP declined to comment.
The contract is subject to Senate confirmation.
AAP spokeswoman Lauren Haddad said the AP had no comment on the contracting.
The AP, meanwhile, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The contract for the press secretary has been negotiated between the White’s office and the Associated Public Press, the WhiteHouse said in a statement to Politico.
The White House declined to provide any other details on the press liaison, and the office did not respond to questions on whether the AP was paid for its services.
The AP’s contract with the White house does not include any outside support.
The Associated Press is one of three major newspapers in the nation’s capital with White House reporters, according the AP website.
It is one among several news organizations that have had to take steps to ensure their reporters’ safety and health following a string of deadly shootings and bombings that have struck the U.S. capital.
In September, the AP reported that it had hired three security guards and had a $4,000 daily budget for the new contract.
In July, the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times also said they had been paid for their White House correspondents’ services, and both publications said that they were hiring security guards.
A spokeswoman for the Journal said in an email that the news organizations had not been paid.
The Times said that it was working with the AP on the Whitehouse contract.
In May, a gunman opened fire inside the AP building and wounded five journalists.
In August, a woman and a child were killed and three others were wounded when a gunman killed six people and wounded eight others at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs.
In April, a man killed two others at the Planned Parenthood building and was shot dead by police outside.
At the AP headquarters in Washington, D.C., police Chief Cathy Lanier said the city would provide full police protection to AP reporters and other journalists covering the inauguration.
President Donald Trump has said that he would “absolutely” pay for a Whitehouse press secretary.
