An Atlantic journalist dubbed a "top-notch hater" by Rep. Jasmine Crockett's team and thrown out at Crockett's rally in Lubbock, Texas, on Friday, released audio from the moment she was told to leave the lawmaker's campaign event.
Elaine Godfrey, a staff writer covering national politics for the outlet, was wearing her press badge identifying who she was and had "attempted to join a closed-door press scrum with the congresswoman that was open to the other reporters at the rally," but was turned away. Instead, she decided to start interviewing people in the crowd when a security guard walked up to her and told her she needed to leave, escorting her away.
In the unedited transcript Godfrey reveals what happened during the incident.
Woman: Can you get your stuff? (Speaking to someone else.) Her team wants her to leave, and they’re asking her to leave.
Godfrey: Why are you asking me to leave?
Woman: They just said, ‘Elaine from Atlantic, white girl with a hat and notepad. She’s interviewing people in the crowd. She’s a top-notch hater and will spin. She needs to leave.’ (Speaking to someone else.) I just told her to get her bag and go [unintelligible] that’s from her team.
Godfrey, who needed to get an Uber from the location, was then told by a security guard to go wait outside the event, along the side of a country road.
She got an Uber and then followed up with Crockett directly on Friday.
"After getting picked up by the Uber, I went straight to Lubbock’s famous Prairie Dog Town, where I received a warmer welcome," Godfrey wrote. "I called Crockett directly today to ask about all of this. When she answered, and I told her who was calling, she said, 'Oh!,' sounding surprised, and hung up. She did not respond to my follow-up texts."
Crockett's team has said there is no evidence that a journalist was booted from the rally.
Godfrey told CNN that plenty of people also witnessed what happened — and that she has the receipts to show for it, including the recording.