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?"

Before this week, when CNN journalist Kaitlan Collins was told she could not cover a Rose Garden event, White House staff have resisted Trump's requests.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

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."

To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Bonnie Kristian

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.