First lady Melania Trump split from her husband’s media crackdown by granting access to the same CNN reporter who was recently barred from the White House, according to a new report.
CNN reporter Betsy Klein has been accredited to cover the first lady during this week’s United Nations General Assembly, the Daily Beast reported Monday. The decision came despite President Donald Trump branding CNN “fake news” and barring the network, along with MS NOW and Politico, from the White House.
Trump defended the controversial new ban in a lengthy Truth Social rant on Monday, where he complained that “virtually every story about me, or anything having to do with me, is negative, wrong and, in many cases, DANGEROUS for our country!”
The three organizations sued Trump earlier in the day, accusing him of violating their First Amendment and due process rights.
“But the first lady was not the only member of the administration to seemingly undercut Trump’s ban,” according to the Daily Beast report.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio mingled with journalists from the targeted organizations at a Sunday press reception in Manhattan, including ABC’s Jonathan Karl, NBC’s Kristen Welker and Politico’s Dasha Burns, the outlet said.
He was alongside other Trump administration officials, including US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz and Deputy Secretary of State Chris Landau.
Rubio made “off-the-cuff remarks” at the event, where CNN also served as the television pooler when Rubio rang the New York Stock Exchange’s opening bell Monday morning.