“I did not order anyone to do anything,” Ryan said, adding, “I was on the stage at the time.”

Surveillance footage shows Ryan speaking directly to Morris moments before he forcibly removed New Brunswick Today founder and editor Charlie Kratovil from the event.

“At that moment, what you saw was my then-bodyguard, who was concerned with my safety, come to me and say, ‘Stop talking,’” the White House reporter said after her interviewer, CNN’s Brian Stelter, played the clip of the altercation. Ryan added that Morris and Kratovil were “about 100 feet away from me, I didn’t know what was going on or what was being said.”

Asked why it has taken her 22 days to address the incident, Ryan claimed legal considerations bar her from speaking openly about the matter.

“Anyone who knows me knows that I’m the first person who wants to get a story out,” she said. “The only reason I’ve been quiet is because a threat of lawsuit. But here’s the thing: This is not about suppressing the press. My body of work stands for me.”

Kratovil claims he obtained permission from the group that hosted Ryan to record the Aug. 3 event. However, the CNN analyst prohibits cameras and other recording devices from her speaking engagements unless she gives her explicit permission. Because that is a very normal thing for a reporter to demand. Ryan says she did not personally grant Kratovil permission to record her address. So, when the CNN analyst noticed there was an unapproved camera in the audience, she refused to speak until it was removed. What happened next has been documented carefully by the Washington Examiner and others.

Stelter also asked why Ryan, who draws a paycheck from CNN as she complains nightly about her crusade for transparency, why she has a “no recording devices” rule for her speaking engagements.

“Well, you know,” said Ryan, “this was a private event for a non-profit organization in New Brunswick in New Jersey. Our contract stated that if someone wanted to come and film or if they wanted to interview me, they had to ask for permission. There was no request for permission and permission was not granted. Now, if they would have asked for permission, it would have been granted. And the reason why I do this, one, it’s standard in the industry. And two, I don’t want my words twisted.”

She fears her words could be twisted out of context if someone records them? Wouldn’t giving paid speeches and not having video or audio evidence of her remarks actually make misrepresentations more likely?

Ryan added, “That kind of thing can charge that atmosphere to create hate against me and death threats.”

The journalist who was physically removed from the Aug. 3 event does not seem to be buying her explanation for what happened.

“I don’t think the things she said ring true about her role,” Kratovil told CNN this weekend after Ryan’s appearance. “She couldn’t own up to it.”

He added, “For whatever reason, she’s not going to accept responsibility. It is very disappointing.”

Ryan wrote an entire book in 2018 about the supposed dangers White House reporters face every day in the Trump era. To date, Ryan has faced nothing in her years covering this administration to compare to what her security detail did to Kratovil. Maybe she can give him an honorable mention the next time she writes a book applauding the bravery of reporters like herself.