The president of the White House Correspondents’ Association has revealed which reporter President Donald Trump’s administration wanted him to publicly criticize.
During an appearance on CNN’s “Reliable Sources” on Sunday, WHCA president and Reuters reporter Jeff Mason told host Brian Stelter that the journalist was Politico reporter Tara Palmeri, who also serves as a CNN analyst and appeared on the show that day.
Last week, Mason revealed during a WHCA town hall event that he’d refused a White House request for the group to publicly criticize one of its reporters over a specific article. At the time, Mason did not reveal the outlet or the reporter’s name.
During Sunday’s episode, Palmeri defended the media’s coverage of Trump.
“I think at the end of the day, we’re supposed to be balanced. We shouldn’t be pro-Trump or anti-Trump. We should just be all about the facts and the issues, and I think that there is a prerogative to say ‘Oh, [reporters are] being anti-Trump,’ ― no, we’re being critical. That’s our job, to be critical, regardless of who the president is.
Trump’s relationship with the press continues to grow more fractious. Earlier this month, he tweeted a doctored video of him beating up a CNN logo, seemingly endorsing violence against journalists. On Sunday, he tweeted his oft-repeated claim that the press is a threat to the U.S. political system.
