Donald Trump is shifting Sean Spicer ‘out of the White House press briefing room and into a more senior role’

Sean Spicer is being moved from the White House press briefing room into a new strategic role, it has been reported.

The White House press secretary has his eye on a more senior position within Donald Trump’s administration, Bloomberg News said.

It is understood that the US president is searching for someone to fill Mr Spicer’s shoes in facing down the media.

Talks have already begun into finding a successor for Mr Spicer and someone to fill the vacant role of communications director.

The task of being Mr Trump’s spokesman is often hampered by the president’s frequent forays on to Twitter.

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Mike Dubke resigned as communications director in May after less than three months in the job. Since his resignation, Mr Spicer has handled press briefings and overall communications strategy.

Mr Spicer’s deputy, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, has filled in for him during press briefings recently, as the White House tries to move away from having just one spokesperson.

The Associated Press reported that Mr Spicer has reached out to his possible successors and candidates for the role of communications director.

Ms Huckabee Sanders said: ‘We have sought input from many people as we look to expand our communications operation.

‘As he did in the beginning, Sean Spicer is managing both the communications and press office.’

Mr Spicer’s public role has already diminished in recent weeks. The White House has increasingly used cabinet officials to address reporters on camera, while daily briefings have been taken off cable television.

On Monday, Mr Spicer spoke from the podium at an off-camera gaggle that barred broadcast outlets from using the audio of the question-and-answer session.

Asked about the changes, he said Mr Trump had spoken before cameras during an Oval Office meeting with the president of Panama and would later make remarks in front of the media at an event with technology leaders.

‘There are days that I’ll decide that the president’s voice should be the one that speaks and iterate his priorities,’ said Mr Spicer.

His briefings had been must-see TV during the start of the Trump era, beginning with his claim that journalists wrongly portrayed the size of the president’s inauguration audience.

In April, he had to apologise for making an ‘inappropriate and insensitive’ statement comparing Adolf Hitler to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

Last month, Mr Trump threatened to call a halt to daily press briefings and told Fox News at the time that Mr Spicer was ‘doing a good job, but he gets beat up’.