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Day 36: Banned in DC.

By Matt Kiser

Feb 24, 2017

This edition is 1,712 words, an 8½‑minute read.

  1. The New York Times, CNN and Politico were prohibited from attending a White House briefing by Trump’s press secretary. Spicer allowed reporters from only a handpicked group of news organizations: Breitbart News, the One America News Network and The Washington Times, all with conservative leanings. Journalists from ABC, CBS, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and Fox News also attended. “Nothing like this has ever happened at the White House in our long history of covering multiple administrations of different parties,” Dean Baquet, the executive editor of The Times, said in a statement. “We strongly protest the exclusion of The New York Times and the other news organizations. Free media access to a transparent government is obviously of crucial national interest.” (New York Times)

  2. White House blocks news organizations from press briefing. The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Politico and BuzzFeed were excluded from the meeting, which is known as a gaggle and is less formal than the televised Q-and-A session in the White House briefing room. The gaggle was held by White House press secretary Sean Spicer. Asked whether CNN and The New York Times were blocked because the administration was unhappy with their reporting, Spicer responded: “Because we had it as pool, and then we expanded it, and we added some folks to come cover it. It was my decision to expand the pool.” (CNN)

  3. Trump administration sought to enlist intelligence officials and key lawmakers to counter news stories about ties to Russia. Acting at the behest of the White House, officials made calls to news organizations in an attempt to challenge stories about alleged contact between members of Trump’s campaign team and Russian intelligence operatives. The calls were orchestrated by the White House after unsuccessful attempts by the administration to get senior FBI officials to speak with news organizations and dispute the accuracy of stories on the alleged contacts with Russia. (Washington Post)

  4. Trump to CPAC: “Now you finally have a president, finally.” In a wide-ranging speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Trump blasted the media for its coverage of his administration and promised that the Republican Party would “be the party of the American worker.” Trump said that in a matter of days, he would have “brand new action” to keep the country safe, a reference to a second attempt at an executive order to restrict travel into the country from several majority-Muslim nations. At one point the crowd started chanting “lock her up” after Trump derided Hillary Clinton for describing some of Trump’s supporters as “deplorables.” (Washington Post)

  5. Republican lawmakers expect that their Obamacare replacement will result in fewer Americans covered by health insurance. The new plan would do away with the Affordable Care Act's requirement that all Americans have health coverage or pay a fine, and replace it with rules that let people choose not to buy insurance, instead paying higher premiums or penalties if they need it later. The result would be fewer people covered. (Bloomberg)

  6. DHS report disputes threat from banned nations. Analysts at the Homeland Security Department’s intelligence arm found insufficient evidence that citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries included in President Donald Trump’s travel ban pose a terror threat to the United States. (Associated Press)

  7. Justice Department will use private prisons again, reversing an Obama-era directive to stop using the facilities, which officials had then deemed less safe and less effective than those run by the government. (Washington Post)

  8. Trump administration signals a possible crackdown on states over legalized recreational-use marijuana. Sean Spicer told reporters that the administration had no plans to continue the permissive approach of the Obama administration and that it viewed recreational marijuana use as a flagrant violation of federal law. (Los Angeles Times)

  9. Caitlyn Jenner to Trump: “Call Me” — your transgender restroom letter is a “disaster.” In a video the transgender icon harshly called out Trump for withdrawing the federal government’s legal guidance on allowing transgender youths to use the restrooms of their choice in schools. (NBC News)

  10. State Department writes anti-leak memo, which promptly leaks. It’s the latest sign that the relationship between the Trump administration’s appointees and the State Department’s professional workforce is still very much a work in progress. (Washington Post)

Weekend Reads

  • Trump, Putin, and the new Cold War. What lay behind Russia’s interference in the 2016 election—and what lies ahead? (The New Yorker)
  • I was a Muslim in Trump’s White House. When Obama left, I stayed on at the National Security Council in order to serve my country. I lasted eight days. (The Atlantic)
  • The only groups that have majority approval of Trump? Republicans and whites without college degrees. Most Americans don’t think that President Trump is doing a good job. (Washington Post)
  • Here’s what non-fake news looks like. Genuine news, and not fake news or hyped news or corrupt news, puts reality first; it does not subordinate honest reporting to ideological consistency or political advocacy. (Columbia Journalism Review)