Fox News offered a strong defense of CNN reporter who was removed from a White House event over a series of tough questions she shouted at President Trump in the Oval Office on Wednesday.
“We stand in strong solidarity with CNN for the right to full access for our journalists as part of a free and unfettered press,” said Fox News president Jay Wallace in a statement to TheWrap Wednesday evening.
The sentiment was echoed by Fox News anchor Bret Baier.
As a member of the White House Press pool- @FoxNews stands firmly with @CNN on this issue and the issue of access https://t.co/TFwfLQtP9h
— Bret Baier (@BretBaier) July 25, 2018
On Wednesday, CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins shouted a series of tough questions at Trump while he sat in the Oval Office with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. Though Trump was meeting Juncker for tough trade talks, Collins wasn’t much interested in that topic.
Among the questions she shouted at the president, according to CNN’s Brian Stelter, included:
“Did Michael Cohen betray you, Mr. President?”
“Are you worried about what is on the other tapes?”
“Why is Vladimir Putin not accepting your invitation?”
The inquiries were pertinent to the recent news stories surrounding the president and his former personal attorney Michael Cohen, but it was too much for Trump, who banned Collins from an impromptu Rose Garden event between Trump and Juncker later that day.
White House communications chief Bill Shine and press secretary Sarah Sanders told Collins that her questions were “inappropriate.”
In their own statement, CNN ripped the president and blasted the decision as “retaliatory.”
“Just because the White House is uncomfortable with a question regarding the news of the day, doesn’t mean the question isn’t relevant and shouldn’t be asked,” CNN said in a statement. “This decision to bar a member of the press is retaliatory in nature and not indicative of a free and open press. We demand better.”