Members of the faith community attending President Donald Trump's National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday shouted down a reporter after she asked about the president's alleged affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels.
According reporters who were attending the event, NBC's Kirsten Welker asked the president why his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, admitted that Trump paid back Michael Cohen for the $130,000 in hush money that was paid to Daniels, even though the president had insisted that he did not know about the payment.
At Day of Prayer in Rose Garden NBC reporter @kwelkernbc shouts ques to @realDonaldTrump asking why he’s changing h… https://t.co/Ogl7sNAcIn— Lauren Ashburn (@Lauren Ashburn) 1525363081.0
Some of those attending reportedly shouted "shame" at Welker for asking the question.
MSNBC's host Stephanie Ruhle and Ali Velshi later noted that the reporter was just doing her job.
"You cannot fault the White House for structuring this in such a way that he does his thing, he signs the book and he walks out," Ruhle said of the president. "If I was a reporter there, I would be lunging at him, trying to get to him to ask a question."
"We are behind a rope," NBC's Kelly O'Donnell said, reporting from the White House. "This is always a delicate balance when there are scheduled events. We have a job to do, day in and day out, regardless of the subject matter of the event. We always try to calibrate the appropriateness of asking questions at a certain time."
She continued: "And when the president has made a significant change in his public statements about an event and a situation that has a real impact on his presidency, there is a responsibility to try to ask these questions. I can tell you that members that were guest here were not pleased that there were reports being done from the back of the Rose Garden or comments like questions being asked from reporters."
Watch the video below from MSNBC.
