WASHINGTON — News organizations protested a White House decision Friday to hold a news briefing by invitation only.
The briefing list excluded CNN and the New York Times, outlets with which President Trump and the administration has clashed over reports on investigations into possible contacts between Trump associates and Russia during last year's election campaign.
Organizations such as Politico, the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed, and USA TODAY did not receive invitations to the on-the-record gaggle conducted by White House press secretary Sean Spicer.
"We don't need to do an on-camera briefing every day," Spicer told reporters.
The Associated Press and Time declined to attend the session, while the White House Correspondents Association said in a statement it is "protesting strongly" against the way the event was handled.
Attendance was limited to the day's pool — a group of reporters that represent newspaper, television, radio and wire at presidential events where there is not enough room for full coverage — and a smattering of other news organizations, some of them considered favorable to the Trump administration.
Most of the questions dealt with the Russia story, the source of friction between the Trump administration and some news outlets.
The invitation-only session came just hours after Trump gave a speech to the Conservative Political Action Committee in which he again attacked the "fake" news media.
"A few days ago I called the fake news the enemy of the people," Trump said. "And they are. They are the enemy of the people."
Trump also vowed the White House would do something about the coverage.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the White House had never planned to do a full press briefing Friday, because Trump was speaking in the morning, and the president of Peru was scheduled to visit the White House. The White House schedule released Thursday evening said there would be a gaggle, not a full briefing.
"There is a limited amount of room in Sean’s office and we wanted to do an informal gaggle," Sanders said. "No precedent here. The pool was included so that everyone could get info."
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