UPDATE 3: The local reporter out of Arizona has now retracted her claim, according to TPM:
In an email to TPM on Thursday, Anaya said she had no qualms providing her question beforehand and admitted to making a “mistake” in her original characterization.
“As a local journalist I had no issue providing my proposed question in advance because I wanted to make sure it was an appropriate for a national briefing and I wanted to make sure it was appropriate for Mr. Carney but in discussing it with a staff member the night before we decided I would save it for the president,” she wrote in the email.
“I was attempting to not waste national time on a local question but in my attempt at explaining that I unintentionally made it sound like that experience applied to everyone. That is my mistake and I own up to it.”
So apparently the White House press reporters, unless it’s breaking news, give their questions to Jay Carney ahead of time. So he knows how he’s gonna answer the questions before the daily press briefing even starts:
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UPDATE: Fox News reporter Ed Henry replied to my post on twitter and said he does not give his questions to Jay Carney ahead of the press briefing:
@trscoop this reporter does NOT
— Ed Henry (@edhenryTV) March 20, 2014
Kudos Ed. Keep up the tough questions!
UPDATE 2: Ed Henry went on to say on twitter that this claim is simply bizarre:
@danielhalper Arizona reporter has no idea what she is talking about — bizarre claim
— Ed Henry (@edhenryTV) March 20, 2014
Even Jay Carney jumped in:
.@RalstonReports Briefings would be a lot easier if this were true! Rest assured, it is not.
— Jay Carney (EOP) (@PressSec) March 20, 2014
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Here’s more from the same reporter, noting that there is a person right behind the president with a count-down timer to ensure he doesn’t go over the allotted 4 minutes:
(h/t: Weekly Standard)