Obama’s photographer trolls WH for banning news outlets from briefing
Pete Souza, the former White House photographer to President Obama, jabbed the Trump administration Friday on Instagram after it barred several news organizations from a question-and-answer session.
“Waiting with press secretary Robert Gibbs, right, for the start of a press conference in 2010. The New York Times, CNN and Politico were of course in attendance (as well as Fox News),” Souza wrote in the caption of a photo showing Obama.
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Those three news organizations were among the ones barred from an off-camera “gaggle” that White House press secretary Sean Spicer held in his West Wing office earlier Friday.
A number of other news organizations were also barred from the meeting, including BuzzFeed, The Hill and the Los Angeles Times. The meeting was held in lieu of the regular on-camera briefing in the White House briefing room.
Several conservative outlets were allowed into Spicer’s office, including Breitbart, The Washington Times and One America News Network. ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, Reuters, Bloomberg and McClatchy were also allowed into the meeting.
The incident came hours after Trump slammed the media during his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
Souza himself clashed with the White House press pool over getting exclusive photos during his time in the White House.
A New York Times article from 2013 highlighted tensions between the press and the White House, pointing to a visit Obama made to South Africa during which photographers were allowed to take a single shot of the president in Nelson Mandela’s jail cell but were excluded from other photo ops.
Souza captured a moment in the cell when Obama hugged his daughter Sasha, a photo captured and widely distributed by Souza.
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