White House Correspondents Association President Jeff Mason has urged President-elect Trump to respect “long-held traditions of press access” after the incoming Republican president ditched reporters late Tuesday night on his way to dine with family in New York City.
Trump left Trump Tower around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday night after his communications director Hope Hicks had advised pool reporters tasked with following the president-elect’s movements that he would not be leaving the building or conducting additional meetings.
“We are chasing down the possibility that Donald Trump left Trump Tower without the press pool tonight and went to a steakhouse,” the Washington Post’s Jenna Johnson wrote in an email to reporters shortly after a cameraman spotted the Trump motorcade departing Trump Tower.
“One week after the election, it is unacceptable for the next president of the United States to travel without a regular pool to record his movements and inform the public about his whereabouts,” Mason said in a statement about the incident.
Hicks has told Johnson and others that she was not aware of the president-elect’s dinner plans and would never intend to keep reporters “in the dark” about his movements.
“The White House Correspondents’ Association is pleased to hear reassurances by the Trump transition team that it will respect long-held traditions of press access at the White House and support a pool structure,” Mason said.
“But the time to act on that promise is now,” he added. “Pool reporters are in place in New York to cover the president-elect as he assembles his new administration. It is critical that they be allowed to do their jobs.”
