April Ryan says journalists have police ‘on speed dial’ for threats in Trump era
White House correspondent April Ryan said that news organizations have had “the FBI and local police on speed dial” to handle threats against reporters since Trump began his attacks on the media.
She said that she, personally, had gotten these threats.
When asked by Brian Stelter, host of CNN’s Reliable Sources, what reporters do when they get such threats, April Ryan replied, “What do you do? You talk to your company and your company has the FBI and local police on speed dial. Just for asking questions.”
Earlier this month, April drew headlines when, during a proclamation ceremony honoring Martin Luther King Jr., she asked President Trump about his “s**thole” comments about immigration from Africa and Haiti. As he walked from the room she asked, “Mr. President, are you a racist? Mr. President, will you respond to these serious questions about your statement, sir?”
Trump ignored her questions but a man described as a minister responded with a firm, “No.”
“I’m talking to the president,” April Ryan answered back. “Not you, sir.”
“I’m talking to you,” the minister stated.
Also while on Reliable Sources, Ryan agreed with Stelter that the way Trump continues to use the word “fake” when referring to the media is “poisonous” and that “the success of the White House press corps is that we continue to do our job. There’s a war on the press by the White House, led by this president.”
Another panelist, John Gizzi, who is a White House correspondent for conservative Newsmax, said that while he doesn’t “necessarily agree with April,” both the White House and the press should learn from the Bible’s admonition to “reason together,” and urged “camaraderie and conviviality.”
