Secretary of State Marco Rubio was spotted mingling with journalists from several news organizations banned from the White House by President Donald Trump just days earlier.
CNN, MS NOW and POLITICO, were barred from the White House by the commander-in-chief Friday, sparking a boycott from the major TV networks in protest
However, POLITICO journalist Dasha Burns shared an image on X of Rubio circulating with journalists at an event in New York City 48 hours later. Burns said reporters from CNN, MS NOW and POLITICO were all present at Sunday’s gathering.
Rubio is visiting the Big Apple as events at the United Nations General Assembly get underway.
“Assistant Secretary of State for Global Public Affairs Dylan Johnson hosted a press reception at The Kimberly Hotel in Midtown New York last night to kick off the UNGA High-level week,” Burns wrote Monday. “Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered off-the-cuff remarks and mingled with the media.”
During his appearance on Tuesday’s Today show, Rubio was asked whether he will look at his own pool of reporters following the White House decision.
“We haven’t discussed it, but again, I think, you know,” he began. “This is a decision that the White House made about coverage in the White House.
“I’ll do a press conference today and I imagine there’ll be reporters there tomorrow and reporters there from every outlet. I don’t ask them who they’re with.”
Rubio went on to claim U.S. news outlets can sound as though they are backing Iran in the United States’ ongoing war with the Islamic Republic.
“I watch a lot of American news coverage and it sounds, in some cases for example, like they’re rooting for Iran,” he said.
“The president feels very strongly that: ‘Why should I have people working in my building and in my office that I believe are not honestly covering my administration?’”
The three organizations announced on September 21 that they filed a federal lawsuit to restore access to the White House for their reporters, arguing the revocation of their access violated the First Amendment and the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause.
Trump is named in the lawsuit, alongside three major players at the White House - Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Communications Director Steven Cheung and Secret Service Director Sean Curran.
Amid escalating tensions between Trump and the press, Bryan Boughton, the rotating TV pool chair and the Washington bureau chief at Fox News, confirmed in a note to members of the television pool that the TV pool will pause some of its coverage.
There are five networks that share responsibility for covering presidential events in order to cut costs and ease the distribution of footage, with each managing coverage on rotation. Those networks include CNN, ABC, CBS, Fox News and NBC.
Coverage of Trump’s trip to the UNGA on Monday was meant to have been provided by CNN.
“Effective today, the TV pool will not be covering events designated as pool coverage of the President,” the note, shared by CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins on social media, reads. “This follows the White House’s position preventing CNN from fulfilling its assigned pool duties.”
