The White House on Tuesday allowed only one local newspaper to cover Ivanka Trump’s visit to an Idaho elementary school and denied it the opportunity to ask her questions, according to The Idaho Statesman.
Trump, a senior White House adviser, visited a school in Idaho with Apple CEO Tim Cook to see how it was integrating technology into education.
{mosads}The Statesman noted that on Monday the White House informed the newspaper that it could send one reporter and one photographer to the event.
But the White House also gave the news outlet a set of conditions, saying that it couldn’t speak with Trump or Cook and that it only could observe their visit.
The only other media outlet given access to the visit was a national crew from ABC, the newspaper reported.
The newspaper added that word got out about the event after the Wilder School District sent a notification to parents, which led to other news outlets requesting access.
The Statesman says it urged the White House to allow more media, but every other outlet covering the visit was not allowed onto school property.
Trump’s stop in Idaho came as part of her work with the National Council for the American Worker.
“Visiting the Wilder School District today with Tim Cook to learn firsthand how they are preparing America’s future workforce using @Apple technology to transform the learning environment and personalize students’ educational experiences based on their unique needs and strengths!” she tweeted Tuesday.
But the Statesman suggested that the White House tried to use her visit as a way to give Trump photo and video footage from a national outlet. ABC was able to sit with Trump after her tour of the school and the newspaper says it was shown the exit.
“The ABC thing was Ivanka’s thing,” Wilder School District Superintendent Jeff Dillon told the newspaper, before dismissing the idea that the visit was choreographed.
“[Trump and Cook] came prepared, they knew what was going and they knew what we were talking about,” Dillon added. “I think it was much more than a photo op. Because if it was just that, they would not have had a clue what we are doing.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill.