Authors Stephen King and Don Winslow are offering to donate thousands of dollars to a children's hospital in the name of the White House press secretary if the administration's chief spokesperson holds a formal press briefing, which it hasn't done in nearly a year.

Mr Winslow wrote to Stephanie Grisham on Twitter, offering $100,000 to St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital in exchange for a one-hour briefing inside the White House.

Mr King upped the ante, adding another $100,000.

He wrote on Twitter: "That's 200 K for charity. And all you have to do is YOUR DAMN JOB! ... This administration isn't about information, it's about propaganda. A press briefing will only underline lies and contradictions. Go ahead, Stephanie Grisham, prove me wrong. Bonus: $200,000 to sick children."

Washington's press corps has urged the White House to resume the long-held practice of daily press briefings after former press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders ended them last year. The last formal press briefing inside the White House's James Brady briefing room was on 11 March 2019.

While other members of the administration hold press conferences and other formal remarks with opportunities for reporter questions, the president instead prefers briefly responding to a handful of questions at random appearances, making it difficult for reporters to ask follow-up questions and challenge the administration's on-record statements.

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Ms Grisham told CNN's Jake Tapper: "If you have $200,000 to play with, why not just help children because it's a good thing to do? Donations to charity should never come with strings attached."

She told Fox News that the briefings had amounted to "theatre" that reporters were hoping to use to "get famous".

Ms Grisham also has said that the president speaks directly with the US, at campaign rallies and in statements, "more than any president in history".