Vice President Mike Pence on Sunday defended the White House’s decision to ban CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins from an event last week.
“This administration believes in the freedom of the press, and President Trump and I and our entire administration have provided extraordinary access to the media. The president answers to many questions in so many different settings, and I can assure you that we’ll continue to do that,” Pence told Fox Business’s Maria Bartiromo in a Sunday interview on Fox News.
[Carl Bernstein: CNN is to the Trump era what the Washington Post was to Watergate]
On @MariaBartiromo‘s show, @VP defends White House banning @kaitlancollins from a public event for asking questions.
“This administration believes in freedom of the press… but maintaining the decorum that is due at the WH I think is an issue we’ll continue to work for.” pic.twitter.com/ERRD1vZKlh
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 29, 2018
Collins shouted questions to Trump during a pool spray last week, and was then prevented from covering an event in the Rose Garden later that day.
The White House said Collins was disrespectful to Trump, though it is not unusual for reporters to shout questions at the president. News networks and journalists have since come up in solidarity and support for Collins.
[More: Lou Dobbs celebrates White House ban on CNN reporter]
Pence explained that “maintaining the decorum that is due at the White House I think is an issue that we’ll continue to work forward.”
When pressed about the rocky relationship between the White House and the press, Pence said he is “confident that they’ll be able to work out this relationship in a positive way.”
