Conservative Journalists Spar in Trump’s Press Room

A fight broke out between a Fox News reporter and a reporter from the controversial site Gateway Pundit earlier today. As Politico’s Hadas Gold notes:

 

A Fox News Radio correspondent confronted in the White House briefing room the White House reporter for a website that traffics in conspiracy theories, witnesses said on Friday.

As reporters were getting settled ahead of Friday’s briefing, the Fox correspondent Jon Decker pointed out that a reporter from Gateway Pundit, Lucian Wintrich, was in the room and that they “hate blacks, Jews, Hispanics,” according to BuzzFeed White House correspondent Adrian Carrasquillo, who tweeted about the incident.
Decker also sent an email to the entire White House reporter email listserv, noting that the White House “has admitted Gateway Pundit into today’s White House Press Briefing.”

While some in the White House briefing room say the White House should be open to any and all outlets, others have expressed concern with certain outlets being legitimized via their White House credentials.

Fox News confirmed Decker was reacting to previous tweets Wintrich had posted. According to a White House Correspondent in the room, several reporters shook Decker’s hands as he walked back to the Fox News radio booth.

“Props to Jon Decker for speaking up in the press room. It would be much harder for a minority reporter to speak up like he did,” the correspondent said. “As a member of the WHCA board and as a white man him standing up and saying that meant a lot to reporters in the room.”

Shortly after the interaction, Gateway Pundit published a post claiming that Decker grabbed Wintrich’s arm, assault him and shouted that he was a Nazi and that The Gateway Pundit “is a white supremacist publication.” Decker and Fox News deny that any sort of assault occurred.

This isn’t the first time other conservative media sites have had it out with representatives of the Gateway Pundit. The site’s founder, Jim Hoft, is famous for taking potshots at former close friends who deviated from the Pro Trump orthodoxy and trafficking in fake news stories that later resulted in larger media figures like Sean Hannity being forced to issue retractions.


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