The White House took retaliatory action against Kaitlan Collins, a White House reporter for CNN, after Collins asked President Trump questions at an Oval Office photo op on Wednesday.
Collins was representing all the television networks as the “pool reporter” in the room during the early afternoon meeting between Trump and Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission.
It is customary for the press pool to lob a few questions at the president. Sometimes Trump responds; other times he does not.
On Wednesday, Trump did not answer Collins’ questions about Vladimir Putin and Michael Cohen.
Later in the afternoon, the White House surprised the press corps by announcing a press availability with Trump and Juncker in the Rose Garden. It was said to be open to all press, not just the small pool.
A few minutes later, Collins was asked to come to Bill Shine’s office. Shine, a former co-president of Fox News, is the new deputy chief of staff for communications. Shine and press secretary Sarah Sanders met Collins there.
“They said ‘You are dis-invited from the press availability in the Rose Garden today,'” Collins said. “They said that the questions I asked were inappropriate for that venue. And they said I was shouting.”
A video clip of the exchange shows that Collins was speaking the same way journalists in the press pool usually speak.
Collins said she reacted by saying, “You’re banning me from an event because you didn’t like the questions I asked.”
Collins said Shine and Sanders asserted that “we’re not banning your network. Your photographers can still come. Your producers can still come. But you are not invited to the Rose Garden today.”
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#BREAKING: White House bans CNN reporter from Rose Garden event https://t.co/gxfXWZtrix pic.twitter.com/gESnt2RWYX
— The Hill (@thehill) July 25, 2018
The White House banned Kaitlan Collins, a White House reporter for CNN, from a press event after Collins asked President Trump questions at an Oval Office photo op https://t.co/7QN8CoZ7sp pic.twitter.com/hWspq7W1yy
— CNN (@CNN) July 25, 2018
Shame on her for daring to ask questions of Dear Leader. Didn’t she know she was supposed to bow and genuflect in reverence instead?
.@PressSec is continuing to malign @kaitlancollins with a false statement saying she "refused to leave" the Oval Office after a press event. I was there.
I saw reporters doing their jobs and asking questions of the president, then leaving w/o incident. pic.twitter.com/I1nbGr8DwT— Toluse Olorunnipa (@ToluseO) July 25, 2018
When President Obama’s administration left us out of round robin interviews — CNN and @jaketapper spoke out for us. As a member of the WH press pool – on the news side – that’s what is supposed to happen. https://t.co/cDci9VUxJP
— Bret Baier (@BretBaier) July 26, 2018
To be clear, White House now claiming right to determine what journalists’ questions are appropriate or not. This is a major escalation that should concern all journalists. Read the questions, they were straightforward questions about the two big stories of the day. https://t.co/FalINDRH7T
— Susan Glasser (@sbg1) July 25, 2018
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