The Daily Caller’s White House correspondent, Saagar Enjeti, on Monday downplayed talk that the Trump administration is a threat to freedom of the press.
“I work there every day. There have not been any shutdowns in press freedoms,” Enjeti told Hill.TV co-hosts Krystal Ball and Buck Sexton on “Rising.”
Enjeti said that under Trump the press still has the same level of access as under previous administrations.
“We have open access…a lot of people don’t really understand how much access we have – I can walk right into Sarah Sanders’ office. Enjeti said. “Anybody who has been apparently banned can do that too.”
But Enjeti cautioned that the administration’s rhetoric towards the press was troubling.
“In terms of all of the discussion and the attacks of the First Amendment, you’re right – it is obviously not good to be attacking the media and calling them the enemy of the people, which is kind of a divisive phrase going back a couple of hundred years,” Enjeti told Hill.TV.
His comments come after CNN reporter Kaitlin Collins was barred from a White House event on Wednesday.
White House Correspondents Association President Olivier Knox issued a statement denouncing the White House’s decision.
“This type of retaliation is wholly inappropriate, wrong-headed, and weak,” Knox said. “It cannot stand.”
Other networks, including Fox News, also rallied behind CNN. The president of Fox News, Jay Wallace, expressed support for CNN, saying that the network stands “ in strong solidarity with CNN.”
— Tess Bonn
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