Donald Trump’s campaign barred a BuzzFeed reporter Thursday from attending an event in Newton, Iowa, a move that comes one day after campaign manager Corey Lewandowski threatened to blacklist a CNN reporter for straying from the designated media area at a Massachusetts rally.
In a series of tweets, BuzzFeed’s White House reporter Evan McMorris-Santoro described passing through Secret Service, providing press credentials and still not being allowed into the event.
I asked the Trump camp for credentials several days ago. Never heard back. So I came out to Iowa to check things out. (2)
— E McMorris-Santoro (@EvanMcSan) November 19, 2015
At press table, Trump aide looked at my WH and Hill creds, called Trump camp to see if I could be let in. 10 min later, the answer: no. (3)
— E McMorris-Santoro (@EvanMcSan) November 19, 2015
I asked if I could just go in as a citizen (I had been checked out by the secret sve already) and was told no again. I was not to enter. (4)
— E McMorris-Santoro (@EvanMcSan) November 19, 2015
A BuzzFeed spokeswoman declined to comment. Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Trump campaign has denied press credentials in the past to The Des Moines Register, following a critical editorial, and to Fusion, given a pending lawsuit involving Univision, which co-owns Fusion with Disney/ABC. The campaign has also denied credentials to The Huffington Post, a decision presumably related to HuffPost shifting much of its Trump coverage from the Politics page to the Entertainment section.
The decision not to allow a BuzzFeed reporter into an event comes a day after Lewandowski, Trump’s campaign manager, threatened to blacklist CNN reporter Noah Gray for leaving a designated press area, or “pen,” in order to cover a group of protesters.
The Washington Post reported that Lewandowski told Hicks to inform the reporter to “get back in the pen or he’s f—— blacklisted.” According to the Post, Lewandowski also directly told Gray: “Inside the pen, or I will pull your credentials. Media goes in the pen.”
.@CLewandowski_ :”inside the pen or I pull your credentials” as I film crowd reax to protestor this evening pic.twitter.com/Gkb2jpC6CY
— Noah Gray CNN (@NoahGrayCNN) November 19, 2015
Gray later tweeted that Trump staffers claimed the press had to stay inside the pen because of security concerns, although an agent on hand told him there was no security issue preventing him, or other reporters, from going into the crowd.
The Trump team’s moves this week are reminiscent of an incident from earlier this year, when the campaign team of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton famously corralled reporters with rope at a July 4th parade, prompting significant news coverage and criticism.
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