White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt torched New York Times reporter Peter Baker on Tuesday evening for whining about the White House control over who is in the press pool of reporters who follow the president and get to ask him questions.
“Having served as a Moscow correspondent in the early days of Putin’s reign, this reminds me of how the Kremlin took over its own press pool and made sure that only compliant journalists were given access,” Baker complained on X.
He claimed that the White House removing the Associated Press from the briefing room for not accurately reporting the name of the “Gulf of America” was a sign that it would kick out any news organization if the administration “does not like their questions or stories.”
“Every president of both parties going back generations subscribed to the principle that a president doesn’t pick the press corps that is allowed in the room to ask him questions,” Baker claimed. “Trump has just declared that he will.”
Leavitt fired back on X: “Give me a break, Peter ????.”
“Moments after you tweeted this, the President invited journalists into the Oval and took questions for nearly an hour,” she wrote. “Your hysterical reaction to our long overdue and much needed change to an outdated organization is precisely why we made it.”
“Gone are the days where left-wing stenographers posing as journalists, such as yourself, dictate who gets to ask what,” she added.
Give me a break, Peter.????
Moments after you tweeted this, the President invited journalists into the Oval and took questions for nearly an hour.
Your hysterical reaction to our long overdue and much needed change to an outdated organization is precisely why we made it.
Gone… https://t.co/dsR4fLWjpD
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) February 25, 2025
Leavitt announced earlier in the day that the White House will determine which reporters get to follow Trump around in the press pool.
“For decades, a group of D.C.-based journalists — White House Correspondents Association — has long dictated which journalists get to ask questions of the President of the United States in these most intimate spaces. Not anymore,” Leavitt said. “I am proud to announce that we are going to give power back to the people who read your papers, who watch your television shows, and who listen to your radio stations.”
“Moving forward, the White House press pool will be determined by the White House press team,” she added. “Legacy outlets who have participated in the press pool for decades will still be allowed to join, fear not. But we will also be offering the privilege to well-deserving outlets who have never been allowed to share in this awesome responsibility. Just like we added a new media seat in this briefing room, legacy media outlets who have been here for years will still participate in the pool, but new voices are going to be welcomed in as well.”