Donald Trump says he loves a free press.
A reporter decided to test that claim.
And things got awkward very quickly.
Trump was speaking to reporters outside the White House Saturday morning before departing for Tennessee when MS NOW White House correspondent Akayla Gardner confronted him over his administration’s escalating battle with the press.
The confrontation came one day after CNN was denied its scheduled place in the television press pool aboard Air Force One for Trump’s trip to Knoxville.
That decision itself followed an extraordinary week.
Trump had barred CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, prompting the three organizations to sue.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly then temporarily ordered their White House access restored, finding that the outlets were likely to succeed on their due-process claim.
But the fight was far from over.
So Gardner asked Trump a straightforward question:
Did he only want news organizations that support him to participate in the presidential press pool?
Trump said no.
He insisted he wanted “real news” rather than what he considers “fake news” — and immediately included Gardner’s own organization in the latter category.
Then Trump made a declaration that made what happened next particularly striking.
“I love an open, free press,” Trump told the reporters.
Gardner immediately pressed him.
“Do you not want tough questions, sir?”
That was when Trump cut her off.
“Wait, wait. Quiet.”
He then returned to attacking CNN and MS NOW as “fake news.”
Gardner tried again.
“Do you not want tough questions, sir?”
Trump continued his criticism of the networks, complaining about the overwhelmingly negative coverage he says he receives.
The exchange crystallized the contradiction at the center of Trump’s latest war with the media.
The president says he supports an open and free press.
At the same time, his administration has barred major news organizations from White House access, fought them in federal court, and excluded CNN from its scheduled Air Force One pool assignment.
Trump argues that his problem is not with press freedom but with outlets he believes publish dishonest and overwhelmingly negative coverage of him.
CNN, MS NOW and Politico argue that the government cannot condition journalistic access on whether the president approves of their reporting.
A federal judge has already intervened once.
And on Saturday, Gardner put that dispute directly to the president himself.
Trump said he loves a free press.
Then a reporter asked him a tough question.
You saw what happened next.
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