Predictably, those members of the media who were locked out of a Q&A session with White House spokesman Sean Spicer, have reacted furiously, led by CNN who on Friday sharply condemned the White House's decision to block it and several other outlets.
"This is an unacceptable development by the Trump White House. Apparently this is how they retaliate when you report facts they don't like. We'll keep reporting regardless," CNN said in a statement.
CNN was blocked from WH @PressSec's media gaggle today. This is our response: pic.twitter.com/8SfY2uYKEI
— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) February 24, 2017
As discussed previously, on Friday afternoon Spicer held an off-camera "gaggle" with reporters in his West Wing office, as opposed to the regular briefing in the White House briefing room. CNN, together with the New York Times, The Hill, Politico, BuzzFeed and the Los Angeles Times, was barred from the briefing, while outlets such as ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, Reuters, Bloomberg, McClatchy and Breitbart, The Washington Times and One America News Network were all allowed in.
The hand-picked gaggle came hours after President Trump lashed out at the press during his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland, telling the audience, "I want you all to know that we are fighting the fake news," a term he has used toward both CNN and The New York Times.
"I called the fake news the enemy of the people," Trump told CPAC. "They are the enemy of the people, because they have no sources. They just make them up when there are none."
Since neither Trump, nor CNN or any other media outlets are likely to de-escalate, we look forward to finding what mushroom clouds this particular nuclear war between the Trump administration and the "enemy of the people" press will bring. We certainly anticipate an angry Trump tweet in the most immediate future.