CNN reporter excluded from White House, attracting journalists' protests

A CNN reporter said she was stuck Wednesday at the White House after officials objected to questions she had asked President Trump during 39, an event earlier in the day.

Reporter Kaitlan Collins Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Communication Director Bill Shine told her that she had been excluded from the announcement made late afternoon in the Rose garden involving Trump and the President of the European Union Jean-Claude Juncker a few hours after looking to question Trump. "Spray" in the oval office.

Block an accredited White House journalist of an event open to all members of the media is very unusual and unprecedented, and it marks another low point in the very tense relationship of the White House Trump with the

It was not clear Tuesday night whether Shine and Sanders were acting on their own against Collins or executing a directive from Trump himself. In a statement, the White House said: "At the end of a press event in the Oval Office, a reporter shouted questions and refused to leave despite the fact that he was asked to Several times thereafter, our staff informed her that she was not welcome to participate in the next event, but clarified that any other reporter from her network could participate in. She said that it did not matter to her because she had not planned to be there anyway. To be clear, we support a free press and ask everyone to be respectful of the presidency and guests of the White House. "

Trump has a particularly tense relationship with CNN, which he often denounces as" a source of false news. "[19659007] At the Oval Office event, where the president also met Juncker , Collins sought to question Trump on the release of an audio recording involving candidate Trump and his attorney Michael Cohen in October 2016. On the recording, which was first broadcast on CNN Monday night, Trump and Cohen seem to be discussing of a cash win against former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who said that she had a yearlong affair with Trump there is more than one. decade

"Michael Cohen betrayed? Collins asked Trump when the journalists shouted questions and White House press aides tried to get them out of the room.

She repeated the question after Trump refused to answer. After receiving no response, she asked, "Are you worried about what Michael Cohen is going to tell prosecutors?" She also asked Trump about being concerned about what could be registered on D & P. Other bands by Cohen, and why Russian President Vladimir Putin had not yet accepted Trump's invitation to come to Washington. "

CNN stated in a statement that Sanders and Shine had told her that her questions were" inappropriate. "

She added," They were not. Just because the White House is uncomfortable with a question regarding the news of the day does not mean that the question is not relevant and should not be asked. This decision to ban a member of the press is a reprisal and does not indicate an open and free press. We ask better. "

The White House Correspondents Association, which represents journalists seeking access to the White House, also issued a Protestant statement against the action.

" We strongly condemn the erroneous and inappropriate decision of the White House. one of our members of an open press event after asking questions that they did not like, "wrote WHCA President Olivier Knox. "This type of retaliation is totally inappropriate, wrong and weak, it can not stand, and journalists asking questions of powerful government officials, including the president, help hold those responsible to account."

Collins, who referred the questions to CNN officials, detailed the episode on CNN, causing Wolf Blitzer to say that the White House should issue an official apology. "It's outrageous," said Blitzer, a former correspondent of the White House. "This does not happen and should not happen in the United States."

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who was on CNN when the news was announced, has said: "This kind of, really, the violation of the rights of a journalist is an offense against the interests of the First Amendment of us all."