New York Post White House correspondent Steven Nelson shouted at White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre at Wednesday’s press briefing after she repeatedly refused to call on him.
Nelson confronted the press secretary about not having called on him in five months and accused her of showing “contempt to a free and independent press.”
“You haven’t called on me in two seasons, Karine,” Nelson said.
“And I’m not calling on you today … go ahead,” Jean-Pierre said, as she pointed to a different reporter.
“You should be ashamed of that,” Nelson said. “That shows disrespect to a free and independent media, to blacklist one of our country’s largest and most widely read newspapers, Karine. That shows contempt for a free and independent press.”
Jean-Pierre refused to respond to Nelson and immediately called on a different reporter who she said she also had not “called on in a long time.” (RELATED: ‘You Can’t Have A Response?’: Steven Nelson Shouts Out Last-Ditch Hunter Question As KJP Scurries Away)
Nelson said Jean-Pierre last called on him in May, when he questioned her about press freedom.
“The New York Post is our country’s oldest daily newspaper,” Nelson wrote in a tweet following the exchange. “We have the 4th-largest print circulation and only NY Times has more web traffic. @PressSec last called on me in May, and on a colleague in July. My most recent exchange with her was on press freedom.”
The New York Post is our country’s oldest daily newspaper. We have 4th-largest print circulation and only NY Times has more web traffic@PressSec last called on me in May, and on a colleague in July. My most recent exchange with her was on press freedom:https://t.co/lNhoE8KSfD https://t.co/4FdRDZvlQ3
— Steven Nelson (@stevennelson10) October 11, 2023
The press secretary recently accused Nelson of being “incredibly inappropriate” after he shouted out a question about House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry during a Sept. 13 press briefing. He asked the press secretary if “lying to the public” is wrong after she described the investigation into President Joe Biden’s alleged influence-peddling scheme as “baseless.”
Today News Africa White House correspondent Simon Ateba has also repeatedly confronted Jean-Pierre and former White House press secretary Jen Psaki about not getting called on in the briefings. Ateba is suing Jean-Pierre and the Secret Service for revoking his hard pass, which he alleges is a First Amendment violation.