The White House kicked HuffPost, Reuters and a representative of the foreign press out of the traditional ‘pool’ Wednesday, making good on press secretary Karoline Leavitt‘s pledge to pick which outlets cover the president in confined spaces.
Ahead of President Donald Trump‘s first Cabinet meeting, the three reporters were told they weren’t allowed to join the rest of the pool by press aides.
They were banished alongside the Associated Press’ reporter and photographer, who were ousted from the pool indefinitely earlier this month over the wire service’s refusal to use the term ‘Gulf of America’ instead of ‘Gulf of Mexico‘.
HuffPost’s longtime White House reporter S.V. Date told DailyMail.com that the White House was aware ahead of time that he was scheduled to serve as the representative for print outlets – newspaper and online – for events at the White House Wednesday.
For decades, the White House Correspondents’ Association, a membership organization made up of journalists from an array of outlets, determined a rotation for the daily pool.
On Wednesday, instead of allowing Date to join the pool, the White House had a reporter from Axios take his place.
‘I will say this, I’ve been pooling now for 10 years, since the Obama administration,’ Date told reporters in the briefing room.
‘The number of times that the Obama White House, Trump White House 1, Biden White House and Trump White House 2 in the times that I’ve pooled so far have asked for a mistake to be corrected in one of my pool reports? Zero. None. Never,’ he argued.
‘The number of times that any of those White Houses have asked for a correction in one of my stories, that’s also zero.’
‘So, it’s not about accuracy, it’s not about competence, and I’ll let them explain what it’s about,’ said Date, who penned a book about Trump entitled ‘Useful Idiot.’
A White House official told DailyMail.com that the ‘[White House Correspondents’ Association] pool that HuffPost was a part of no longer exists.’
A White House press aide tells reporters from Reuters, HuffPost and the Associated Press that they’re not welcome to join the ‘pool,’ which was heading in to cover President Donald Trump’s first Cabinet meeting
Members of the White House ‘pool’ – the group of journalists assigned to cover the president in tight spaces – stand and wait in the briefing room Wednesday to be let in to cover President Donald Trump’s first Cabinet meeting
It is unclear if HuffPost’s treatment will extend to other left-leaning outlets.
Axios spokesperson Jake Wilkins told DailyMail.com that the outlet had not been informed about the circumstances under which the pool slot became available.
‘We had nothing to do with the decision to remove HuffPost and were unaware of that decision when we accepted the spot,’ Wilkins said.
Ahead of Reuters’ exclusion, the top editors at all three wire services – the Associated Press, Reuters and Bloomberg – sent out a joint statement protesting the White House’s decision to limit access.
‘It is essential in a democracy for the public to have access to news about their government from an independent, free press,’ the statement said. ‘We believe that any steps by the government to limit the number of wire services with access to the President threatens that principle.’
‘It also harms the spread of reliable information to people, communities, businesses and global financial markets that heavily depend on our reporting,’ the statement read.
Traditionally, a reporter from each of the wires has always been included in the pool.
The Associated Press has already sued three members of the administration to regain access but a judge this week didn’t immediately rectify the situation.
The press pool can be seen covering President Donald Trump’s first Cabinet meeting. The pool covering Trump Wednesday excluded HuffPost, the scheduled print pooler, Reuters and a representative from foreign media outlets. A reporter from The Blaze was added
President Donald Trump speaks to the press at his first Cabinet meeting of his second administration. Ahead of the meeting, his staff prevented HuffPost, Reuters and a representative of the foreign outlets from joining the pool
The White House interpreted that as a win, trolling the AP by having the TVs in the briefing room on Monday night read: ‘Victory – Gulf of America.’
On Wednesday, with Reuters and the foreign pooler gone, the White House also added a representative from the ‘new media.’
White House staff selected Chris Bedford from The Blaze, the conservative news site originally founded by former Fox News personality Glenn Beck.
‘We want more outlets and new outlets to have a chance ot take part in the press pool, to cover the administration’s unprecedented achievements up close, front-and-center,’ Leavitt said Tuesday when explaining the White House’s unprecedented decision to control which reporters made up the pool.
She continued: ‘As you all know for decades, a group of D.C.-based journalists, the White House Correspondents’ Association, has long dictated which journalists get to ask questions of the president of the United States in these most intimate spaces.’
‘Not anymore,’ the 27-year-old press secretary said.
‘I am proud to announce that we are going to give the power back to the people who read your papers, who watch your television shows and who listen to your radio stations,’ Leavitt said. ‘Moving forward the White House press pool will be determined by the White House press team.’
The announcement has been slammed by press freedom advocates.
On Monday, the White House trolled the Associated Press by putting up signate in the briefing room that read: ‘Victory – Gulf of America.’ A preliminary ruling didn’t allow the AP to immediately rejoin the White House ‘pool’
Eugene Daniels, this year’s president of the WHCA, said in a statement that the Correspondents’ Association had been blindsided by the White House’s announcement.
‘To be clear, the White House did not give the WHCA board a heads up or have any discussions about today’s announcements,’ he said.
He also argued that the Trump White House wasn’t increasing access but rather picking and choosing which reporters got closest to the president.
‘This move tears at the independence of a free press in the United States,’ Daniels said. ‘It suggests the government will choose the journalists who cover the president.’
‘In a free country, leaders must not be able to choose their own press corps,’ Daniels offered.
He also noted that the WHCA has expanded ‘its pool rotations to facilitate the inclusion of new and emerging outlets.’
‘Since its founding in 1914, the WHCA has sought to ensure that the reporters, photographers, producers and technicians who actually do the work – 365 days of every year – decide amongst themselves how these rotations are operated, so as to ensure consistent professional standards and fairness in access on behalf of all readers, viewers and listeners,’ Daniels said.
Fox News Channel’s Senior White House Correspondent Jacqui Heinrich, a WHCA board member, publicly chastised the White House’s decision.
‘This move does not give the power back to the people – it gives power to the White House,’ she wrote on X.
‘The WHCA is democratically elected by the full-time White House press corps,’ she explained. ‘WHCA has determined pools for decades because only representatives FROM our outlets can determine resources all those outlets have – such as staffing – in order to get the President’s message out to the largest possible audience, no matter the day or hour.’
Fox News and Newsmax also signed onto a letter supporting the AP that was organized by the WHCA.
The National Press Club’s President Mike Balsamo said in a statement that the White House’s move represented a ‘direct challenge to the independence of a free press in the United States.’
‘The press pool, working weekends, holidays and often at great personal cost, should never be replaced by a handpicked group of insiders,’ Balsamo said. ‘We urge the White House to reverse course immediately and preserve the integrity of the press pool for the good of our democracy.’
