“Fox & Friends” on Thursday failed to question White House counselor Kellyanne Conway about her colleagues’ controversial decision to ban a CNN reporter from a press event a day earlier.
Fox News, along with dozens of journalists from other outlets, issued statements of support Wednesday for CNN’s Kaitlan Collins after the White House disinvited her to a press event for asking President Donald Trump so-called “inappropriate” questions at an earlier event. (She hadn’t.)
“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 president Jay Wallace said in a statement Wednesday.
But when presented with an opportunity to grill Conway about the decision Thursday, the hosts of “Fox & Friends” passed on it. Instead, Conway was asked softball questions about tariffs and immigration.
CNN on Wednesday described the White House’s ban on Collins as “retaliatory in nature and not indicative of an open and free press.”
“Just because the White House is uncomfortable with a question regarding the news of the day doesn’t mean the question isn’t relevant and shouldn’t be asked,” according to the statement.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement Wednesday that Collins had been banned because she shouted and refused to leave the Oval Office.
“To be clear, we support a free press and ask that everyone be respectful of the presidency and guests at the White House,” Sanders said.
Several journalists who were present at the Oval Office event disputed Sanders’ account of Collins’ behavior.
CBS News’ Steven Portnoy, who was serving as the radio network pool reporter for the day, said Collins “was no less willing to leave” the office than “any other member of the larger-than-usual press contingent.”
Fox News’ chief political anchor Bret Baier defended Collins on-air and in a series of tweets Wednesday.
A representative for Fox News did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.