Donald Trump spoke alongside Jean-Claude Juncker in the Rose Garden and took no questions. Photo / AP
Donald Trump spoke alongside Jean-Claude Juncker in the Rose Garden and took no questions. Photo / AP
The White House banned a CNN correspondent from covering an event advertised as "open press" – after she asked a series of tough questions about Russia and Michael Cohen inside the Oval Office.
The man delivering the news to CNN correspondent Kaitlan Collins was the new White House communications director Bill Shine, who joined the White House from his top executive position at Fox News, CNN's rival.
Collins got called to Shine's new West Wing office soon after the staff announced a surprise press event in the Rose Garden, where Trump spoke about talks to avert a trade war with the European Union - without taking any questions, reports Daily Mail.
"They said 'You are dis-invited from the press availability in the Rose Garden today,'" Collins told CNN reported.
"They said that the questions I asked were inappropriate for that venue. And they said I was shouting."
Collins said she responded: "You're banning me from an event because you didn't like the questions I asked."
Collins can be heard on videotape voicing a series of questions to Trump, as reporters routinely do during events where Trump is seated near world leaders.
She asked about former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who can be heard on a tape leaked to CNN talking with Trump about a payment relating to a Playboy model who claims she had an affair with Trump.
"Did Michael Cohen betray you, Mr. President?" Collins asked.
Kaitlan Collins was told by Bill Shine that she could not attend an event open to everyone because she asked 'inappropriate' questions. Photo / AP
She also asked him: "Mr. President, are you worried about what Michael Cohen is about to say to the prosecutors? Are you worried about what is on the other tapes, Mr. President?"
Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement: "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."
The White House Correspondents Association blasted the move to ban the reporter.
"We strongly condemn 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," said WHCA president Olivier Knox.
"This type of retaliation is wholly inappropriate, wrong-headed, and weak. It cannot stand.
"Reporters asking questions of powerful government officials, up to and including the President, helps hold those people accountable. In our republic, the WHCA supports the prerogative of all reporters to do their jobs without fear of reprisal from the government."
Jay Wallace, President of FOX News, Shine's former employer, turned on him too and said in a statement: "We stand in strong solidarity with CNN for the right to full access for our journalists as part of a free and unfettered press."
Fox News host Brett Baer tweeted: "As a member of the White House Press pool- @FoxNews stands firmly with @CNN on this issue and the issue of access."
One other reporter, HuffPost's Ryan Reilly, said that deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley was also involved.
"Hogan Gidley asked reporters where Kaitlan was as the press pool lined up for the press conference. Heard him say something to her colleagues about her not wanting to miss this. Quite a little stunt they pulled there," Reilly tweeted.
Gidley and Shine were seen together pointing at journalists just before the Rose Garden event.
Trump has repeatedly clashed with CNN's Jim Acosta, although he wrote in a tweet he was a "nice guy." There is no known animosity between Trump and Collins.
Efforts to play favorites are not unheard of, but trying to keep a network correspondent out of an open press event had no immediate precedent.
The Hillary Clinton campaign once kicked a DailyMail.com correspondent off her campaign bus. It also denied access when DailyMail.com was the designated print pooler at an event in New Hampshire.
But an open press event means any reporter admitted to the White House, including some from obscure networks, can attend events.
Trump did not take questions at the trade event, although multiple outlets, including CNN and DailyMail.com, shouted questions at him relating to Putin and Cohen – the same topics that earned Collins the ire of the White House.
The White House did not respond to an immediate request for comment when asked by DailyMail.com.
CNN said in a statement: "Just because the White House is uncomfortable with a question regarding the news of day doesn't mean the question isn't relevant and shouldn't be asked," the network said. "This decision to bar a member of the press is retaliatory in nature and not indicative of an open and free press. We demand better."
