White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham sent an email to the attendees of a White House luncheon on Tuesday, where President Donald Trump met with members of the media, complaining about leaked details, The Daily Beast reports.
"The president of the United States welcomed you to the White House and spent almost two hours answering so many questions that he didn't eat his own lunch,” Grisham wrote in an email that was shared with the Daily Beast on Thursday. "He graciously gave you a couple of items on the record and then spoke frankly, honestly, and most importantly in good faith that it was off the record."
The Daily Beast reported Tuesday that Trump answered some questions from members of the press like MSNBC anchor Chuck Todd, criticized Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell over interest rates and former National Security Adviser John Bolton. The Beast noted "a good time was had by all" at the lunch.
"Our only agenda was to give you an idea of what the president was going to say to the country in his third State of the Union address," Grisham wrote in the email. "It was so disappointing that not even an hour passed before we were inundated with inquiries, as someone or perhaps a few in the group chose to leak out most of what was said. What's worse, some of the details were things the president specifically asked you not to share."
"To me, it is the height of hypocrisy that a press who bemoans the perceived lack of ethical behavior in this administration, so brazenly violates its own ethical standards," Grisham continued. "The media cries for more access but cannot adhere to a simple agreed upon standard of off-the-record, which allowed your colleagues who were not in attendance to break the news for you."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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