Hillary Clinton's closest aides slammed The New York Times during a secret meeting with members of the newspaper's Washington D.C. bureau, arguing that since she is no longer in public office she should not be subjected to harsh scrutiny.
Sources told
The Washington Free Beacon that Clinton advisers Philippe Reines and Huma Abedin met with Times Washington Bureau Chief Carolyn Ryan and national political reporter Amy Chozick, who writes about Clinton for the newspaper, to complain about coverage.
While neither The Times nor Clinton's office would talk about the specifics of the meeting, the sources told The Free Beacon that the meeting was held to intimidate the Times' staff members.
As Clinton nears a decision on whether to run for the presidency in 2016, she's in a difficult place when it comes to the media. While she's been making appearances and giving some interviews to promote her new memoir,
"Hard Choices," she's been closely guarded, reports The New Yorker, but the media have continued to discuss her and her background and future agenda.
Chozick’s recent reporting includes a story suggesting Hillary and Bill Clinton steered clear of a House race waged by
Marjorie Margolies, Chelsea Clinton's mother-in-law.
Margolies ended up losing her Democratic primary bid in Pennsylvania's House race, and The Times also reported Clinton's absence from the race angered some of Margolies' allies.
The Times in April also reported that Clinton was having difficulty
defining her achievements as secretary of state, and that "much of what she labored over so conscientiously is either unfinished business or has gone awry in [Obama's] second term."
Clinton's differences with the media will be put aside for her book tour, however, and as the groundwork begins for a potential 2016 campaign.
Later this month, she will participate in a "network televised town hall" to be moderated by CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour at the Newseum in Washington, D.C.
She will also appear with Diane Sawyer on June 9 for her first TV interview about her memoir as she heads out on a nationwide excursion, including stops in Chicago and Los Angeles.
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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