Breitbart News reporter Joel Pollak accused presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke’s campaign of ejecting him from an event where the former Texas congressman was scheduled to speak.
Pollak writes he and other reporters were in the room awaiting to hear O’Rourke speak at Benedict College in Columbia, South Carolina, when a staff member in a Beto O’Rourke T-shirt approached him. Asking what outlet he was with, the staffer read his press credential and, according to Pollak, “He put a hand on my shoulder and said, cheerfully, ‘Oh, hey. All right.'”
Pollak says a campus police officer then approached him a few minutes later and asked him to step outside of the room, where a different staffer told Pollak he was being removed because he had been “disruptive” at past events.
Pollak said he had only been to two other O’Rourke campaign events and said he had not acted in such a manner, saying his only interaction with O’Rourke was when he asked a question during a press gaggle Monday.
Steven went on to say Pollak could either leave voluntarily or be “officially uninvited.” Pollak said he complied with their demand.
O’Rourke’s campaign did not respond to the Washington Examiner‘s requests for comment in time for publication.
The Texas Democrat has voiced his support for freedom of the press, adding they are not the “enemy of the people,” which is a term President Trump has applied to some outlets.
The press is not the enemy of the people but the best defense against tyranny. We need to vigorously defend the freedom of the press. It’s essential for our democracy. pic.twitter.com/LnqtevuOCV
— Beto O’Rourke (@BetoORourke) October 30, 2018
