White House Bars CNN Reporter From Presidential Event

The White House barred CNN Journalist Kaitlan Collins from attending a public appearance by President Donald Trump in the Rose Garden, an apparent act of retaliation that drew immediate rebuke from news organizations and signaled the latest escalation of Trump’s hostilities toward the news media. Collins said she was called into the West Wing and chastised by administration officials for what they deemed “inappropriate” questions that she had asked of President Trump during an Oval Office photo opportunity. The officials — Bill Shine, the newly appointed deputy chief of staff, and Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the press secretary — then informed Collins that they would not allow her to attend Trump’s public remarks with the president of the European Commission, an event that was otherwise open to the media. “They did not like the questions I asked President Trump about the news of the day,” Collins said. She had asked President Trump several times if he had concerns about the loyalty of his former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen.