State Department resumes press briefings after 6-week break

The State Department has resumed news briefings after a six-week break.

In the first briefing since Jan. 19, spokesman Mark Toner on Tuesday pushed back on suggestions that the department's role in the Trump administration has been reduced.

The absence of briefings, the low profile adopted by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and reports that the diplomatic budget may be cut by 37 percent had all contributed to that impression.

Toner, a career diplomat who had served as deputy spokesman in the last years of the Obama administration, says Tillerson is playing an active role as a foreign policy adviser to the White House and is looking for ways to save money without compromising the department's work on behalf of the American people.