Paul Ryan Las Vegas Fundraiser: Press Banned From Covering Event

Press Banned From Covering Ryan's Las Vegas Fundraiser
Republican Vice Presidential candidate, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. talks to supporters during a campaign rally in Lakewood, Colo., Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)
Republican Vice Presidential candidate, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. talks to supporters during a campaign rally in Lakewood, Colo., Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)

Rep. Paul Ryan's first major fundraiser as the Republican party's presumptive vice presidential nominee will be closed to press, BuzzFeed reported on Tuesday.

Ryan, who joined the the ticket on Saturday, will attend a fundraiser at The Venetian in Las Vegas on Tuesday night.

The move goes against what BuzzFeed described as the Romney campaign's general press guidelines for covering fundraisers, which typically allow reporters to cover events that are not held in private homes.

The Romney campaign's decision to prohibit press from covering Ryan's Los Vegas fundraiser is just the latest in what has contributed to creating a tepid relationship between the presumptive GOP presidential candidate and the press.

Last month, the press was able to cover one of two Romney fundraisers hosted by former Vice President Dick Cheney (the second fundraiser was held at Cheney's home). Although a pool of reporters was able to attend the first Cheney-held fundraiser at the Teton Pines Country Club, it was not allowed to photograph Romney and Cheney together, keeping with the Romney campaign's photo and video guidelines at fundraiser coverage.

More recently, Romney's campaign clashed with some members of the press during the candidate's trip abroad to London, Israel and Poland.

In London, Romney answered questions from the British press corps but not from the American journalists traveling with him oversees. MSNBC's Chuck Todd tweeted that he couldn't believe Romney did not take any questions from the U.S. press corps, calling the move "bad form."

In Israel, the Romney campaign decided to ban press from a fundraiser at the Kind David Hotel in Jerusalem. Under the campaign's guidelines, such an event would have been open for the press to cover. Romney eventually granted reporters access to the event, but his remarks at the fundraiser angered Palestinian leaders who, according to the Associated Press, "suggested his comments were racist and out of touch with the realities of the Middle East."

And if the oversees trip wasn't filled with enough press access-related clashes, a Romney aide told reporters, who were yelling questions from behind the rope line, to "kiss [his] ass," and "shove it."

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Media Coverage Of Paul Ryan Pick

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