U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday confirmed that he could move journalists accredited to the White House to another location. Reuters reports, writes UNN.
Details
In a social media post, Trump denied reports that he planned to remove the White House press briefing room and restore a historic swimming pool in its place, saying he had never even "thought about such nonsense."
At the same time, he noted that he could move the press corps from its current location in the White House.
"I may move the fake news to a less annoying location," Trump wrote.
Update
On Tuesday, The New York Times reported that in August, Trump urged then-White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt to move press briefings out of the James S. Brady Briefing Room. However, the idea was never implemented.
According to the publication, the president told aides that he would prefer to install an indoor swimming pool for therapeutic procedures in that location, which had been installed during the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Richard Nixon administration replaced the pool with the press briefing room.
Trump regularly accuses the U.S. media of biased coverage of his administration's activities.
Last month, Trump briefly barred journalists from CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House grounds and said that similar restrictions could also affect other outlets. Free speech advocates said the move violated the press freedom protections enshrined in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The White House restored journalists' access after a federal judge ruled that the ban was likely unconstitutional. At the same time, the Trump administration continues to appeal the decision.
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