AP Photographer Recounts Cabinet Meeting and Getting Photos of Trump’s Sharpies

An Associated Press photographer has recounted how he captured President Trump’s first Cabinet meeting since the United States and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran.

The intense situation in the Middle East meant it was a big moment for photographer Alex Brandon, who has prior experience capturing meetings in the Cabinet room.

“We line up just outside the doors of the room, all the news media together, and we’re rushed into the room through two doorways,” Brandon says in the AP video. “We converge on our spots and get in our positions.”

The Cabinet members are already seated when the media arrives; the President is in the middle of the table.

“He starts speaking about the Iran war, about the gas prices, about the long lines at the airport,” says Brandon. “And then he allows the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of State to speak.”

Every time someone is speaking, Brandon will move around the room to “make the best possible picture” of the subject. “To see them in those moments between the moments,” he adds.

One of those people in the room was the new Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin, who was attending his first-ever Cabinet meeting. “We didn’t hear from him this time,” says Brandon. “But all eyes were definitely on him.”

A Sharp-ie Diversion

Trump spoke for some time about Operation Epic Fury, Venezuela, the media, and the construction work in Washington. But about an hour into the meeting, the President began speaking about pens.

“Any time they start talking about something unusual, you look for it,” Brandon says. “So he holds up a pen, and then he holds up another pen, and then he starts explaining about how he negotiated this deal with Sharpie to use those pens.”

About 1:40 into the video at the top of the page, you can see Brandon’s amusing photo of Trump holding two black and gold Sharpies.

“It was a light-hearted moment in a room full of very, very serious moments,” adds Brandon.

In December, PetaPixel reported that AP photographers have become key witnesses as the news agency’s reporters still find themselves locked out of high-profile White House meetings, such as the one yesterday.