Welp:
Latest @HillaryClinton development: Sec. Service agent won't let me into the YMCA venue to go to the bathroom, says "Hit the woods."
— David Martosko (@dmartosko) June 15, 2015David Martokso, U.S. political editor for the U.K. Daily Mail, was denied entry into Hillary Clinton's campaign breakfast event in New Hampshire on Monday. Politico has the scoop:
The Hillary Clinton campaign denied access to the print pool reporter on Monday, reigniting reporters' longstanding concerns about the campaign's commitment to running an open and transparent campaign.
David Martosko, the U.S. political editor for London's Daily Mail, reported showing up at the campaign's breakfast stop in New Hampshire only to be told that he would not be allowed to pool the day's events. Pool reporters are responsible for sending reports from the trail to the rest of the press corps.
"Your pooler showed up at the Puritan Backroom in Manchester on a rainy New Hampshire morning at 7:45 and was greeted in the parking lot by Meredith Thatcher, a press staffer with the New Hampshire Democratic Party. Thatcher told your pooler that he wasn’t the approved print pool reporter for today’s pooled events," Martosko reported in his first pool report. (Note: Thatcher is actually a press staffer for "Hillary for New Hampshire," not the state's Democratic Party.)
"Asked to call her boss, Harrell Kirstein, she did so and then reported: 'So I'm afraid it's a no. You're not on the list.' She said [campaign press secretary] Nick Merrill should be phoned with questions," Martosko continued. "Asked if the print pooler was being prohibited from getting on either of the pool vans, Thatcher replied: 'I'm afraid that's right.' Asked why, she responded: 'All I know is what Harrell has told me. I got an email saying the print pooler would be changed for today. Sorry.'"
And then, of course, they wouldn't even let him use the bathroom.
According to The Daily Caller, the Hillary campaign really didn't offer an explanation as to why Martokso wasn't allowed into the event.
Maybe this is blowback due to tweets such as this:
It's truly astonishing how many journalists at the @Hillaryclinton speech today reported exactly, and only, what the campaign wanted them to
— David Martosko (@dmartosko) June 14, 2015With Hillary already facing criticism for her campaign being restrictive to journalists, this incident doesn't exactly help her cause. Imagine the press restrictions that would occur if she were president.
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