Three news organization were blocked Tuesday from attending a summit at the Environmental Protection Agency, and an Associated Press reporter was “forcibly” pushed out of the building, according to a report.
The Associated Press, CNN, and E&E, a news organization covering energy and the environmental, were barred from the meeting Tuesday.
Jahan Wilcox, a spokesman for the EPA, said the news outlets could not attend due to a lack of space.
“This was simply an issue of the room reaching capacity, which reporters were aware of prior to the event,” he said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “We were able to accommodate 10 reporters, provided a livestream for those we could not accommodate and were unaware of the individual situation that has been reported.”
According to AP, one of its reporters attempted to go through a security checkpoint inside the building but was stopped by security guards from doing so. The reporter then asked to talk with a member of the EPA’s public affairs team, but security guards grabbed her by the shoulders and “forcibly” shoved her from the building, AP reported.
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt spoke at the opening of the two-day summit, which involves officials from state, tribal, industry and nonprofit groups.
The meeting is taking place at the EPA’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. Members of the press who were invited to attend were asked the leave the meeting after roughly an hour Tuesday morning.
