Trump campaign ejects New York Times reporter from its rally in Michigan
- President Donald Trump's campaign staff ejected a reporter for The New York Times after she tweeted a photo showing that most people attending a rally in Michigan were not wearing face coverings.
- "Maybe 10% have masks," journalist Kathy Gray posted on Twitter.
- A spokesperson for the Trump campaign told Business Insider that Gray was offered the opportunity to stay if she refrained from additional reporting, claiming she lacked press credentials.
- Local public health officials have urged people to wear face coverings.
- "Good Democratic and good Republican people still wear masks," Saginaw County Medical Director Dr. Delicia Pruitt said last month. "This is not a political issue. Good people just wear masks."
No mask? No problem, at President Donald Trump's campaign rally in Michigan on Wednesday, an observation that New York Times correspondent Kathy Gray made before she was kicked out of the event.
In a post on Twitter, Gray noted that, out of thousands attending the rally in Freeland, "Maybe 10% have masks."
Local public health officials have urged residents to wear face coverings to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
"Good Democratic and good Republican people still wear masks," Saginaw County Medical Director Dr. Delicia Pruitt said last month. "This is not a political issue. Good people just wear masks."
But Trump campaign staff appeared to be more concerned with Gray's lack of press credentials.
"I've just been kicked out of the [T]rump rally," the reporter posted, moments after the president arrived on Air Force One. Gray described it as a "first" for her, saying Trump campaign staff "tracked me down from pics [I] tweeted and escorted me out."
Courtney Parella, deputy national press secretary for the Trump reelection campaign, claimed that Gray was given the opportunity to remain at the event, provided that she stop reporting on it.
"Kathy wasn't credentialed as press and was acting like press in general admission," Parella claimed. "Staff informed her if she wanted to stay as press, she had to apply for credentials. She was also offered to stay as a guest of the event if she didn't act as press, but chose to continue to do so [and] therefore she was asked to leave."
Gray told Business Insider that she applied for press credentials "and never heard back."
"I was there on a general admission ticket," she said, and "that's why they told me they were asking me to leave."
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