A Washington Post reporter attempted to attend a political event for Mike Pence when security refused him access and invasively searched him for his cell phone.
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DelReal has covered Donald Trump’s presidential campaign for more than a year, but been denied media credentials in recent months. Trump continued, saying the real issue is that “you have 33,000 emails deleted and the real problem is what was said on those emails from the Democratic National Committee”.
The Post said DelReal next placed both devices in his auto before returning to the premises.
A Washington Post reporter was barred Wednesday from entering Mike Pence’s first public event as the Republican vice-presidential nominee and was patted down by local county deputies. He also denied DelReal’s request to speak to a campaign press representative as he escorted the journalist out.
DelReal tried to enter the Waukesha County Exposition Center, outside Milwaukee, Wisconsin, through the general-admission line after volunteers at a press check-in desk turned him down for a credential.
Trump said in June that he was pulling the Post’s credentials to cover his campaign events because he was unhappy with the newspaper’s coverage. At this time, the event staff asked two deputies who were assigned to a security post nearby to pat down the reporter.
Officials of the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department were unavailable for comment Wednesday night. “Now, state police officers, in collusion with private security officials, subjected a reporter to bullying treatment that no ordinary citizen has to endure”, Martin Baron, the executive editor of the Post, said in a statement to WISN 12 NEWS.
“It sounds like they misinterpreted what they were supposed to be doing”, one official said after refusing to give his name.
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Pence spokesman Marc Lotter tells the The Associated Press, “Our events are open to everyone and we are looking into the alleged incident”. All of this took place in a public facility no less. Appearing with Fox News’ Megyn Kelly last night during the conservative news channels coverage of the Democratic National Convention, Trump spokeswoman Katrina Pierson said while the GOP presidential candidate’s Russian Federation comment “wasn’t really a joke, per se”, it was certainly “tongue-in-cheek”.
