Veteran White House correspondents trashed their conservative colleagues as unprofessional during a high-stakes meeting between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
After Trump's election, The White House took control of the press pool allowed into the Oval Office and other smaller spaces and, although MAGA pundit Brian Glenn had not been assigned to the pool, White House aides allowed him into Monday's event — where he dominated the question-and-answer session with Fox News reporter Peter Doocy, reported CNN.
“This display, especially in front of foreign leaders, is so embarrassing,” said one White House correspondent on condition of anonymity. “Many of the questions aren’t designed to get answers, but to create another confrontation or make Trump look good. That’s not journalism.”
The independent White House Correspondents’ Association had determined the pool rotation for decades, giving networks and newspapers turns covering events in smaller spaces, but the Trump administration seized control of assignments in February, and they've excluded traditional wire services in favor of conservative outlets like Breitbart and the Washington Examiner.
“High schoolers could do a better job than some of these people,” the White House correspondent said.
Doocy asked the pair of presidents five questions, while Glenn – who works for Real America's Voice and is dating GOP Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene – teed up Trump for a three-minute rant against the press by asking if the media wanted a peace deal "because they've been so critical" of his handling of the war in Ukraine.
“Marjorie Taylor Greene’s boyfriend and Steve Doocy’s son are dominating what seems to be an impromptu press conference, where the stakes of the meeting are nothing less than ‘peace in our time,’" wrote Johanna Maska, who worked in the Obama White House press office, on X. "The absurdity of the moment sometimes belies the seriousness of what’s at stake.”
Glenn infamously castigated Zelenskyy during a contentious Oval Office meeting in February for not wearing a suit, but the Ukrainian president got the last laugh during this week's event after the MAGA correspondent complimented his attire.
“I apologize to you, you look wonderful,” Glenn said.
“You are in the same suit," Zelenskyy replied. "I changed, you did not.”