Vice President Mike Pence’s office has reportedly blocked top health officials working with the administration to combat the coronavirus from appearing on CNN over its coverage of the daily press briefings.
The vice president’s office is responsible for the White House coronavirus task force’s media bookings during the pandemic and is using that power to coerce CNN into airing the hourslong briefings in their entirety, according to the network itself.
“When you guys cover the briefings with the health officials, then you can expect them back on your air,” a Pence spokesperson told the outlet Thursday.
CNN, by its own admission, often only covers the beginning of the press conferences, during which the president speaks and takes questions, before cutting away during the vice president and other coronavirus task force members’ time in front of the podium. The network also chooses frequently to dissect and comment on the president’s remarks more so than those of other administration officials.
Dr. Anthony Fauci; the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Deborah Birx; the task force coordinator and a world-renowned global health official; FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn, and Surgeon General Jerome Adams have all appeared on NBC, CBS, ABC, and Fox News over the last week.
After publication, there was a report from CNN that the administration booked Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield to participate in a town hall on the network and Fauci for the following day. Additionally, Katie Miller, Pence’s press secretary, commented on social media about the initial story, saying, “We’ve had at least 33 bookings on @CNN in the past month, including with health professionals. As usual, CNN is more #FakeNews,” despite the original comment by the vice president’s spokesperson.
The only White House officials to appear on CNN this week have been Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, who appeared on State of the Union on Sunday, and economic adviser Peter Navarro, who was interviewed by Anderson Cooper on Friday and also appeared on New Day Monday morning.
It’s unclear if other outlets’ coverage will affect their access to interviews with health officials. MSNBC has also occasionally cut away from the briefings to discuss the president’s remarks. A number of the network’s hosts, including Rachel Maddow, Chris Hayes, and Joe Scarborough, have questioned carrying the briefings, but an MSNBC official defended airing them as an “editorial decision made on a day-to-day basis.”
The White House did not respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.
