Trump reportedly tries to banish 'impertinent' reporters from the White House

President Trump has asked aides to ban reporters he considers "disrespectful" or "impertinent" from covering White House events, The Washington Post reported Friday evening.

"These people shouting questions are the worst," the president has said, according to the Post's administration source. "Why do we have them in here?"

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The president has also "privately discussed with aides retaliating against individual journalists," the Post reports, including revoking press credentials. However, his comments were often interpreted as a way to express frustration rather than a direct order.

As a candidate in 2015, Trump said he would not revoke press credentials for reporters he does not like. "It doesn't mean I'd be nice to them," he added. "I tend to do what I do. If people aren't treating me right, I don't treat them right."

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.