Fox News’ Ed Henry responded on “America’s Newsroom” Tuesday to Hillary Clinton’s campaign’s controlling press operation after he was shut down trying to ask Clinton a question.
Henry complained about the Secret Service’s attempt to protect Clinton, adding that the Clinton press team is not being fair with the traveling media.
“We have this news conference. There’s long buildup to it. I’m standing three feet from Secretary Clinton and, one of her aides had sort of pulled me to the front, suggesting I was likely to get a question,” Henry explained to Martha MacCallum. “So I was waiting my turn. I wasn’t going to start shouting in her face. I’m three feet from her. She goes through her list and they have a careful list of who they’re going to call on, and then she just turns and walks away.”
“I was moving closer trying to get to her. A Secret Service person sort of told me to move back, so I was pretty annoyed by that because I didn’t think the Secret Service was supposed to be protecting candidates from reporters. Fine to protect them for security reasons. This was not a security thing,” Henry continued.
The Fox News chief White House correspondent went on to explain that Clinton’s press team wouldn’t allow him to ask a question after he interrupted the former secretary of state a few weeks prior at an event in Iowa.
“I was trying to get her press secretary Nick Merrill’s attention. Bottom line is, I say, ‘What gives here?’ And he said ‘You already got a question in a few weeks ago when you shouted at her in Iowa,'” Henry said. “I didn’t get a question. I said ‘Secretary Clinton will you come back here or not?’ And she eventually did come back to take questions. That was not exactly a question. That was a request, to come back and actually talk to the media.”
“Then he said, ‘Well, we wanted to give other reporters a chance today who haven’t gotten questions,’ except they also called yesterday on Andrea Mitchell from NBC who had recently gotten called on,” Henry said. “That’s great, she’s a great reporter. And then, finally I noted to them that they not only called on NBC but they called on an MSNBC reporter.”
“So, two NBC questions and not a single Fox question. I’m sure there’s going to be people out there who will think I was just angry and I was whining. No,” Henry said. “We’re covering this campaign as fairly as anybody, and we’re going to be there every step of the way. And if the Clinton campaign doesn’t want to call on us, I’m just going to keep on pressing until they do.”
Henry’s complaints also come on the heels of the campaign not allowing the Daily Mail’s David Martosko to report for the travel pool, which seemingly has further strained relations between the press and the campaign.
“I’m expecting she’ll call on me in the days ahead,” Henry added. “Again, it’s not about me, but it’s just become silly.”