A CNN correspondent was barred from attending an open press event at the White House on Wednesday due to questions she asked the president earlier in the day.
The reporter, Kaitlan Collins, and CNN said that she was not allowed to attend the Rose Garden event with the European Commission president because officials found her questions to be “inappropriate.”
Collins, who was serving as a representative of the television networks during an earlier pool spray in the Oval Office, had, along with other reporters, asked a handful of questions regarding Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen, ABC News reports.
According to NPR, Collins was whisked aside by White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications Bill Shine and White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders who both told her she was not allowed to attend the open press event “because they thought the questions [she] had posed to the president were inappropriate and inappropriate for that venue,” according to Collins in a CNN interview about the encounter.
“I told them that is often our only chance to ask the president questions,” Collins told CNN host Wolf Blitzer. “Those questions were questions any reporter would have asked and I was there to represent all of the networks and therefore asked about the questions of the day.”
The White House had confirmed that Collins was disinvited from the event, but said the decision was due to her loudness and unwillingness to leave the president’s office, NPR reports.
Outrageous of the White House to bar @CNN reporter @kaitlancollins from an open press event because it did not like her questions. A strong leader does not fear questions. A strong democracy does not shield its leader from those who question authority. https://t.co/zmwH0vUZ3A
— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) July 25, 2018
In a statement issued Wednesday evening, Sanders wrote that “at the conclusion of a press event in the Oval Office, a reporter shouted questions and refused to leave despite repeatedly being asked to do so.”
“Subsequently, our staff informed her she was not welcome to participate in the next event, but made clear that any other journalist from her network could attend. She said it didn’t matter to her because she hadn’t planned to be there anyway. To be clear, we support a free press and ask that everyone be respectful of the presidency and guests at the White House,” Sanders wrote.
Sanders said the White House made it clear that other reporters from CNN were invited to the event, just not Collins.
Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway said this incident showed the need for more “civility” between reporters and the White House.
In a statement, CNN objected the White House’s decision, calling it “retaliatory in nature” and “not indicative of an open and free press.”
“Just because the White House is uncomfortable with a question regarding the news of the day doesn’t mean the question isn’t relevant and shouldn’t be asked,” CNN said.
The White House Correspondents’ Association also condemned “the White House’s misguided and inappropriate decision today to bar one of our members from an open press event after she asked questions they did not like.”
“This type of retaliation is wholly inappropriate, wrong-headed, and weak. It cannot stand,” Olivier Knox, White House Correspondents’ Association President, said.
On Thursday, Shine disputed that the reporter was “banned.”
“Could you ask her if we ever used the word ban?” Shine said to reporters on Thursday, while standing outside the West Wing and addressing reporters.
Shine refuted that Collin’s denied access to the event amounted to a ban.
“When you ask her if we ever used the word ban, then I will answer that question,” Shine said when asked what word he would use to describe Collins inability to attend events. “You ask her, focus now, you ask her if we ever used the word ban.”