The New York Post has been front and center among the very media outlets that have actually reported critically on Hunter Biden's dubious and potentially criminal foreign business dealings and the uncovered connections between President Joe Biden and his influence-peddling son.
It now appears that the White House may have engaged in a bit of retaliation by barring the Post from receiving press credentials for an official event held on Monday, the Daily Wire reported.
Meanwhile, separate reports indicate that the Biden White House has drafted new policies for the White House press corps that some believe will allow for even more retaliation by stripping credentials from certain reporters that they don't like for generally vague and unspecified reasons.
The Post reported on Monday that it had received an email from the White House just hours prior to President Biden's only scheduled public event of the day that denied the major media outlet's request for press credentials.
"We are unable to accommodate your credential request to attend the Investing in Airline Accountability Remarks on 5/8," the email reportedly stated. "The remarks will be live-streamed and can be viewed at WH.gov. Thank you for understanding. We will let you know if a credential becomes available."
On Monday afternoon, the president, joined by Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg, delivered remarks about a number of onerous new regulations it would seek to impose upon commercial passenger airlines, ostensibly in search of accountability.
The Post noted that the event was held in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building adjacent to the White House -- the site of the fake White House sets -- where there are about 50 theater-style seats reserved for members of the press.
The outlet further noted that there were around 20 empty seats in which one of its reporters could have sat, as well as that Biden refused to answer any of the questions shouted at him at the end of his speech by the reporters who were in attendance.
It was also pointed out that Biden, during an event in February in that same room, had denounced the Post for having impolite reporters when one asked about his family's documented business dealings with China and then proceeded to "storm out" of the room without taking any additional questions.
Separately but perhaps relatedly, The Washington Post reported that the White House has put forward new rules on which reporters will be eligible to receive a "hard pass" that allows them access to the White House and presidential events.
Per the administration, the new rules are intended to ensure that all credentialed journalists act in a "professional" and respectful manner toward colleagues and White House employees, stay out of restricted areas, and refrain from "impeding" briefings or other events. They also impose a number of eligibility requirements that some fear could be used to exclude freelance and independent journalists not aligned with a mainstream media outlet.
Yet, numerous members of the White House press corps suspect the move may be an act of retaliation against Africa Today News reporter Simon Ateba, who has clashed with White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on many occasions and has resorted to disrupting briefings with insistent shouted questions due to the fact that she typically ignores him or declines to adequately answer his legitimate queries.
The Post noted, however, that the new rules appear to be written in a broad and vague manner that is open to interpretation, and suggested that they could be deemed unconstitutional if challenged in court based on recent precedent within the past few years.
Recall that the Trump administration sought to revoke the credentials of CNN's Jim Acosta and Salon's Brian Karem in 2018 and 2019, respectively, but the credentials for both were ultimately restored after courts ruled that "unduly vague" and "unarticulated standards of professionalism" could not be used to violate the Due Process and First Amendment rights of journalists.
