US president ignoring the hard questions
Print Edition
US President Donald Trump managed to avoid questions about hot-button issues facing the White House — such as the future of national security adviser Michael Flynn and a North Korean missile launch — at a news conference on Monday where selected reporters asked non-challenging questions and other shouted-out inquiries were ignored.
Trump appeared before the White House press corps after meeting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Traditionally, leaders in these gatherings face two questions each from White House press and from reporters following the foreign leader.
The president selected his questioners as Scott Thuman from Washington’s local ABC News affiliate and Kaitlan Collins of The Daily Caller, a conservative website founded in 2010 by Fox News Channel anchor Tucker Carlson.
Thuman asked Trump about his relationship with Trudeau, given the two men have outlined policy differences, and whether there were any areas where Trump had changed his stance on issues following their conversation. The president offered no specifics.
Collins asked Trump what he saw as the most important national security issues facing the nation.
Readers want substance
While Thuman and Collins both said they had not discussed their questions in advance with anyone at the White House, left unasked were questions about Flynn following the reports that he had discussed US sanctions against Russia with a Russian envoy before Trump was inaugurated. Trump did not reply to shouted questions on the topic as he was leaving the news conference. Later, Flynn announced his resignation.
“Personnel questions are interesting, but our readers want substance. They don’t want Washington bull----. They want to know where the next war is going to be,” Collins told The Associated Press by e-mail later in the day.
Thuman’s boss noted the reporter asked a question related to Trudeau’s visit and focused on issues of terrorism and international trade, which is important to his viewers.
Thuman “works hard to go beyond the ‘inside the Beltway’ chatter and get to the heart of the issues that are relevant to all Americans,” said Scott Livingston, vice president of news for the Sinclair Broadcast Group.
A similar news conference took place on Friday after Trump met Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The president selected questioners from the New York Post and Fox News Channel. Although their questions were newsier — about the president’s reaction to a judicial decision about his immigration order — many outlets noted that both the Post and Fox are owned by Trump-friendly media mogul Rupert Murdoch.
On MSNBC, correspondent Katy Tur said Trump was given “two softball questions” on Monday while her colleague, Hallie Jackson, decried the “startling lack of news.”
CNN analyst Gloria Borger said it seemed like part of a deliberate strategy by the White House to diminish the influence of the traditional mainstream media.
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