NBC News, Are You Kidding Me With This Trump Headline?

There are moments in time when you really have to ask yourself: is the media this dense? I mean you can’t make this up. President-elect Donald J. Trump had a steak dinner with his family at the 21 Club in Manhattan. The press seemed a bit anxious that Mr. Trump decided to duck out to spend some time with the family. NBC News and its affiliates noted that he broke protocol, hitting the president-elect as not being transparent with the press:

In a highly unusual move, President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday night left his Manhattan residence without notifying the reporters covering him or giving any indication of where he was going.

The maneuver seemed to deliberately limit access to the media.

The only way the press eventually ascertained his whereabouts was after a Bloomberg reporter, who happened to be dining at the 21 Club, tweeted a photo of Trump and some of his transition team in the Midtown steakhouse.

Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks later told NBC News. "He is having dinner with his family."

[…]

The media covering the president-elect have also not yet been offered briefings on his transition efforts, which was a typical practice for past presidents that allowed the public to keep apprised of the details of the new government.

The Wall Street Journal clarified that last point:

Ms. Hicks told a pool reporter that she “wasn’t aware of this movement.” Since Mr. Trump was elected on Tuesday, reporters have been stationed inside the lobby of Trump Tower, where Mr. Trump lives and has his headquarters.

A “protective pool” has not yet been set up for Mr. Trump, and once one is, Ms. Hicks told a pool reporter that reporters will have “all of the access that they have ever had under any president.”

NBC New York described the importance of the press pool:

Recommended

Joy Reid Spews Hate Toward Trump Supporters Once Again Sarah Arnold

Trump Drops a Flurry of Nominees to Head FDA, OMB, CDC, and HUD Matt Vespa

The White House depends on having journalists nearby at all times to relay the president's first comments on breaking news.

A pool of reporters and photographers was in the motorcade when President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed in Dallas. The pool was just steps away from President Ronald Reagan when he was shot outside a hotel in the District of Columbia, and was stationed outside his hospital as he recovered. The pool also travels on vacation and foreign trips and at times captures personal, historic moments of the presidency.

All right—let’s get down to it: are you freaking kidding me? Trump? The press? And lack of transparency? Have we forgotten that Hillary Clinton had an unauthorized and unsecure email server from which the FBI discovered classified information when she turned it over last August? They’re going to hit Trump for lack of transparency over a steak dinner? Is this a joke? Clinton also had 15,000 emails that she didn’t turn over; she didn’t turn over an email where she said that she didn’t her personal information to be accessible, which undercuts the convenience talking point she tried to use to neutralize this fiasco. Almost every aspect of Clinton’s email defense fell apart throughout the campaign. It was eventually discovered that three emails that had classified information at the time it was sent and received, but wasn’t properly marked. Oh, and it turns out that it wasn’t true that the State Department allowed this email system to be established. And if Clinton had come to officials about setting up this server, it would’ve been rejected. So, Clinton wasn’t really transparent at all regarding an email system that probably put our national security at risk.

Oh, and has the media forgotten that Clinton avoided the press like the plague. For over 250 days, she didn’t hold a press conference. In July of 2015, at an Independence Day parade in New Hampshire, team Clinton roped in the press corps like cattle. In September of 2016, a Clinton aide told the press that a traveling corps would be joining her on her plane.

"I hope this will shut you the hell up,” this aide reportedly said. Politico’s Glenn Thrush tweeted the exchange. In some cases, the former first lady offered chocolate to hush up the media. Even CBS This Morning noted in August, that Clinton was avoided the press since the email fiasco was usually at the top of the list.

“The maneuver seemed to deliberately limit access to the media,” reported NBC News on Trump’s steak escape. Yeah, I guess they’ve forgotten about Clinton’s warm embrace of the media – said by no one. That’s not to say the president-elect had a cozy relationship but the press, but at least he answered questions.