By the time he takes office, President-elect Donald Trump will have a traditional press pool, a squad of reporters that follows him day in and day out, according to spokeswoman Hope Hicks.
"We fully expect to operate a traditional pool and look forward to implementing our plans in the near future. We appreciate your patience as we navigate the transition process," she said.
Politico reported that Trump did not have a traditional protective press pool with him during his campaign — he never allowed reporters on his plane regularly, and, often, they were not part of his motorcade.
Since his election, his press pool has been left out of his whereabouts and activities. Information about his conversations with foreign leaders has come from those leaders, not from the reporters. He did not have press with him when he met with President Barack Obama at the White House.
The protective press pool is a smaller, rotating group of reporters that make it easier to follow the president when space is a concern. They pay their own way and share information that they gather with the rest of the press corps and the public.
White House Correspondents' Association president Jeff Mason released a statement expressing concerns after Trump's Obama meeting:
"The White House Correspondents' Association is deeply concerned by President-elect Donald Trump's decision to reject the practice of traveling with a 'protective pool' of reporters for his first visit to Washington since the election. In addition to breaking with decades of historical precedent and First Amendment principles, this decision could leave Americans blind about his whereabouts and well-being in the event of a national crisis."
Mason said Trump's pool is ready to cover him, and urged the president-elect to "allow it to do its job, including being present for motorcade movements, meetings, and other interactions. Not allowing a pool of journalists to travel with him and cover the next president of the United States is unacceptable."
White House press secretary Josh Earnest expressed the importance of the pool.
"Having a pool of reporters follow you around everywhere you go is inconvenient, occasionally annoying and takes a long time to get used to, but it serves an important purpose," he said,
Trump is not avoiding interviews or attention, Politico said — he and his family are being interviewed on the CBS program "60 Minutes." During his campaign, however, he blacklisted outlets from covering him and called out reporters at his rallies, which led to security concerns for some of them.
A reporter for a major newspaper told Politico, "The operating theory among those of us who have covered him is a Trump White House will be no different than a Trump campaign."
CNN's Wolf Blitzer criticized the president-elect for not keeping the press informed about his movements.
"That's unacceptable. They have got to fix that," Blitzer said.
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