Elections

Clinton Talks To Traveling Press After 88 Days Of Avoiding Questions

Kerry Picket Political Reporter
Font Size:

Hillary Clinton broke her 88-day streak of not talking to her traveling campaign press. Clinton took questions from reporters at a stop in Minneapolis.

The Clinton campaign began to feel pressure from news outlets covering her on a daily basis when reports of her avoiding questions from the press for almost 3 months started to surface.

Nick Merrill, Clinton’s traveling press secretary, reiterated to The Daily Caller on Monday that Clinton has done more than 160 interviews and conversations with the press, including with her traveling press, since December — despite the fact that her traveling press received a tiny fraction of that time.

Merrill argued that the traveling press is a “tiny fraction” of the press at large.

“She also took over 500 questions from the public in town halls last year alone, an ongoing conversation that ranged from how to raise wages to bullying to autism to her faith. That’s a lot of time answering questions, and it’s been an central part of this campaign,” Merrill told NBC News.

NBC noted that Clinton has held hundreds of events across more than 20 states and did not formally answer questions from her traveling press once during that time until Tuesday in Minnesota.

Reporters found themselves shouting questions over blasting music in the background to Clinton as she worked rope-lines, where she would meet swarms of supporters, sign autographs, and take selfies following campaign events.

Other campaigns — including Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, [crscore]Marco Rubio[/crscore], [crscore]Ted Cruz[/crscore] and John Kasich — held press conferences last week and usually hold regular gaggles for their traveling press.

Merrill told TheDC he could not comment on the media practices of the other campaigns.

Follow Kerry on Twitter