Donald Trump’s team barred a credentialed reporter from an event in Florida Tuesday evening, raising questions about whether it was in retaliation for an unflattering article about the Republican candidate’s campaign manager.
Politico’s Ben Schreckinger, who has covered Trump’s campaign for more than six months, was denied entry at a scheduled speech and press conference Tuesday at the GOP’s front-runner Mar-a-Lago estate, and was escorted off the property.
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“He is a dishonest, third-rate reporter with a failing publication that will soon be out of business, hopefully,” Trump said in response to inquires from the Washington Examiner’s media desk.
Earlier that morning, however, Schreckinger was granted credentials by Trump’s team specifically to cover Tuesday’s events. But moments after he received his credentials, the Politico reporter was sent another note saying that they had been revoked.
When Schreckinger showed up Trump’s Florida club later that day, he was denied entrance, and shown the door.
Politico was not thrilled with the development.
“I’m saddened by the personal nature of the Trump campaign’s attack on an excellent reporter, Ben Schreckinger. The campaign provided no explanation for barring our reporter from Donald Trump’s speech,” editor Susan Glasser said in a statement provided to the Examiner.
“If this is the response to honest, fair, and sometimes critical reporting – like the piece on Campaign Manager Corey Lewandowski — it certainly will not intimidate POLITICO as we cover the campaign in the days ahead,” she added.
This is not the first time that a journalist covering Trump’s White House bid has been blocked by the candidate’s team.
Reporters with the Des Moines Register, Univision, Fusion, the Huffington Post, and BuzzFeed have also been denied credentials to cover the casino tycoon’s campaign events, Politico’s Hadas Gold noted.
Retaliation seems to be the norm for reporters who write unflattering things about the GOP candidate, she added.
“In January, New York Times reporter Trip Gabriel was ejected from an event in Iowa after writing about Trump’s weak ground game in the state, which he eventually lost to Ted Cruz,” Gold reported.
Prior to being ejected from the event, Schreckinger published a report raising questions about Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, who was accused last week of assaulting a former Breitbart reporter.
“Donald Trump’s staff and advisers have expressed concerns about campaign manager Corey Lewandowski’s quick temper and heavy-handed leadership, and some even planned a coup against him last month,” read the Politico report.
“[M]ore than 20 sources who have dealt with Lewandowski during his nearly year-long tenure with the Trump campaign and in his previous job with the Koch brothers-backed advocacy group Americans for Prosperity [complained] about Lewandowski being rough with reporters and sexually suggestive with female journalists, while profanely berating conservative officials and co-workers he deemed to be challenging his authority,” the report added.
This isn’t the first time that a newsroom has raised questions about Lewandowski’s behavior.
In a statement released in January, a Fox News spokesperson alleged that Trump’s campaign manager had threatened Megyn Kelly after she upset Trump the candidate with a series of questions at the first GOP primary debate.
“Capitulating to politicians’ ultimatums about a debate moderator violates all journalistic standards, as do threats, including the one leveled by Trump’s campaign manager Corey Lewandowski toward Megyn Kelly,” Fox said in a statement.
“In a call on Monday with a Fox News executive, Lewandowski stated that Megyn had a ‘rough couple of days after the last debate’ and he ‘would hate to have her go through that again.’ Lewandowski was warned not to level any more threats, but he continued to do so,” Fox said.
Schreckinger was not given any explanation for why he was turned away from the campaign event and escorted off of Trump’s property.
