White House DISPUTES that CNN reporter was banned from press event

by The Right Scoop

The White House didn’t take kindly to news reports saying they had ‘banned’ a news reporter from a White House event.

Bill Shine, the WH deputy chief of staff for communications, suggests they never used the word ‘ban’:

POLITICO – The White House pushed back Thursday against criticism that it banned a CNN reporter from an open event with President Donald Trump.

“You ask her if we ever used the word ‘ban,'” said Bill Shine, White House deputy chief of staff for communications, of CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins, on Thursday.

Collins was not allowed by the White House to cover an even with Trump and Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission on Wednesday.

Shine on Thursday objected to the word “ban” being displayed on television screens by networks during coverage of Collins not being allowed to go to an open press event. Shine did not specify on what network he saw the word “ban.”

When asked what would he would use instead, Shine refused to answer.

“When you ask her if we ever use the word ‘ban,’ then I will answer that,” he said.

Yesterday CNN reported that Collins was not allowed into an event because of the content of her questions:

But as we reported to you yesterday, the White House said that’s just not true:

So it turns out that Collins was being unruly and because of that, she wasn’t allowed into the next event. But CNN could have covered it by sending another reporter. Instead they chose to make it sound like Collins was being banned because she asked uncomfortable questions of Trump.

Seriously, since when have you ever seen Trump afraid of questions? Sure, he doesn’t like CNN and he has chosen to embarrass CNN’s Jim Acosta on at least one recent international event. But Acosta was still allowed into the event. In fact I’ve never heard of an event he wasn’t allowed to attend and he’s pretty damned obnoxious at times.

So if you ask me, CNN is the one spinning here and it’s pretty disgraceful.


Comment Policy: Please read our comment policy before making a comment. In short, please be respectful of others and do not engage in personal attacks. Otherwise we will revoke your comment privileges.