Rubio, Vance, Bessent, Oz: White House’s ‘guest’ briefers step into different spotlight

There’s a new, favorite Beltway game: evaluating the performance of the big figures in the Trump administration who have stepped to the lectern to conduct White House briefings.

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Mehmet Oz, who on Tuesday became the latest person to fill the role, even gave his own — relentlessly sunny — assessment of the three people who preceded him as one-off stand-ins for White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt: Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vice President Vance and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

“Scott Bessent’s dry humor is fabulous,” Oz enthused, adding that Rubio is “just an earnestly funny person” and that Vance’s performance was “spectacular — just very on his game.”

Oz added: “I did watch them all, by the way, just to prepare. I’m a doctor; I try to do my homework.”

Outside observers say the sheer rarity of featuring key figures at the lectern — rather than having a deputy from the White House press shop stand in for Leavitt throughout her maternity leave — has fueled interest, at least among the political and media class.

“It’s exciting to watch because you have never seen these people in this situation before. It’s must-see TV for people in that world,” said GOP strategist Brad Blakeman, who served in former President George W. Bush’s White House. “How are they going to comport themselves and how are they going to do?”

Other voices in Trump World, however, take those kinds of comments down a notch or two, noting the figures who have stepped forward so far have been high-profile for years. 

Advocates across the board, and some independent voices, note they are among the most-skilled TV performers in the administration — a talent famously prized by President Trump.

“Trump has always admired people who are TV........

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