TrumpTrain How OANN Got Booted From the White House Briefing Room
In the wake of COVID-19, the White House briefing rules were jointly modified by the White House and the White House Correspondents’ Association to implement social distancing rules.
This has placed reporters a restriction on how many reporters can fill the briefing room for the hottest ticket in Washington: The White House Corona Virus Task Force Briefings.
The new restrictions implement a rotation of over a dozen reporters due to seating restrictions leaving some reporters on the outside looking in.
One America News Network Chief White House Correspondent Chanel Rion decided to ignore the rules and attended two briefings despite not being on the limited guest list.
On Tuesday, she brought attention to herself when she asked the President, “How many clinical trials would it take before a potential coronavirus drug he has touted could be approved?”
The White House Correspondents’ Association, which is comprised of White House correspondents, took swift action and banned OANN from the news briefing situation.
In a statement released on Wednesday they said:
As you are all aware, the WHCA issued a policy last month to restrict seating[…]to comply with CDC guidelines on social distancing.
Under this policy, we have asked reporters who don’t have a seat not to attend press briefing. We appreciate all your cooperation as we do our part to ensure the safety of the White House press corps and White House staff during this difficult time.
We are writing to inform you that the WHCA Board has voted this evening to remove a news outlet from the rotation seat in the briefing room. We did this because a reporter for this outlet twice attending press briefings in contravention of this policy.
We do not take this action lightly. This is a matter of public safety.
This will keep OANN, one of the few outlets friendly to Trump, outside of the briefing room for an extended period of time.
Chanel Rion nor the White House has yet issued a statement regarding this incident, but it’s possible the White House could lobby the White House Correspondents Association to change course on the punitive action taken against OANN.
Rion (pictured below), a Harvard graduate and proud Republican, joined OANN in May of 2019. She is engaged to Courtland Sykes, a Navy Veteran, who ran for Senate in Missouri in 2018 as pro-Trump Republican.
[Photo credit: Twitter]
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