Politico reporter Alex Thompson criticized the White House on Twitter for its response to his attempt to break the news Wednesday that White House communications director Kate Bedingfield is stepping down from her position soon.
“News: WH Comms Director Kate Bedingfield has told people she is departing in the coming weeks. Story [to come],” Thompson tweeted.
Shortly afterwards, he suggested that the White House gave him the runaround to avoid giving him the story.
“I called the White House at 2:53pm to ask for comment and told them we were running it. They asked for more time to check with folks. I gave it to them. WSJ pubbed at 3:11pm with a statement from Klain,” Thompson tweeted.
The White House correspondent followed that tweet with a link to his coverage of the news, writing that the White House “did not return a request for comment.”
In a later tweet, he added, “good luck to the White House staffer who gets a 2 minute long deadline next time.”
Fellow reporters agreed with Thompson’s frustration and criticized the White House’s behavior towards him.
“This sounds so familiar!” Washington Post White House reporter Tyler Pager tweeted.
Alex Ward, Politico national security reporter, confirmed, “The White House does this All. The. Time.”
“Bad form,” tweeted CNN White House correspondent Kate Bennett.
NBC News senior reporter Ben Collins wrote, “Sounds like they need a new Comms director.”
Fellow Politico White House reporter Max Tani tweeted, “if you’re a comms person, it’s not your job to run interference for news outlets that you prefer or that you’ve given the exclusive to…”
This is an excerpt from Fox News.
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