Posted on 06/29/2015 11:10:47 AM PDT by Mount Athos
Officials with the Department of State threatened to call security Monday on a Washington Free Beacon reporter who was attempting to report on a briefing held by senior Obama administration figures in Vienna on the eve of an expected nuclear agreement with Iran.
Two State Department officials booted the Free Beacon from a room where Wendy Sherman, the undersecretary of state for political affairs, was talking to reporters, despite the Free Beacon’s being credentialed by the Austrian government for the ongoing Iranian nuclear talks.
Western observers present in Vienna for the talks linked the State Department’s behavior to jitters over media coverage revealing a still growing list of concessions being made to Iran by the Obama administration.
Melissa Turley, a State Department official, approached a Free Beacon reporter and demanded that he leave the room.
“You’re not registered with the U.S. press,” Turley said after being informed that the Free Beacon was attending the event.
“You have a press pass from the [European Union], not from me,” Turley said, after being informed that the Free Beacon was officially credentialed to cover the event.
Turley and her colleagues then threatened the reporter, instructing him to leave the room or be dealt with by “security.”
“I’m going to have to get security,” added another State Department official who came to assist Turley in ejecting the Free Beacon.
At one point, Marie Harf, another State Department official, was also involved in the situation.
The State Department officials said that if the Free Beacon has “a problem” with being removed from the briefing, it should file a case with Associated Press reporter Matthew Lee, who is president of the State Department Correspondents Association.
It is not clear why the State Department referred the Free Beacon to Lee.
During the briefing, which included around 30 reporters, Sherman was discussing the ways in which the United States will ensure under any final deal that Iran discloses its past nuclear weapons work.
Critics of the Obama administration’s diplomacy have in recent weeks expressed concern that Iran will be allowed to continue enriching uranium, the key component in a nuclear weapon, and not be forced to disclose the full extent of its nuclear weapons work.
Officials told reporters Monday in Vienna that that they would not press the Iranians to meet the international demand that inspectors be allowed to access all Iranian military sites. The administration’s stance comes after a speech by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ruling out any such inspections.
One Western source present in Vienna for the talks said that “if this is what they’re already doing to reporters, to journalists trying to report on the concessions they’re making to the Iranians, imagine how bad things will get when the congressional debate over the deal begins.”
“The State Dept-hosted background briefings are for reporters traveling with Secretary Kerry and those who are members of the State Dept Press Corps, who are from outlets credentialed to attend the daily press briefings in Washington, D.C.,” Turley said in an email.
Iranian Lawmakers Chant ‘Death to America’ as They Vote to Outlaw Military Site Inspections
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/06/22/iranian-lawmakers-chant-death-to-america-as-they-vote-to-outlaw-military-site-inspections/
Once upon a time ...
“Mine will be the most transparent administration ever”
“Mine will be the most translucent administration ever”
He didn’t know how to spell opaque?
Free Bacon? I lubs me sumb free bacon...wait...
Well, now I’m hungry...
I’m sure that other news organization will come to the aid of the Free Beacon, because they always stick together. I mean, you restrict freedom of the press to one, and you restrict freedom of the press to all, right?
those who are members of the State Dept Press Corps, who are from outlets credentialed to attend the daily press briefings in Washington, D.C
The Free Beacon is not accredited in Washington?
Darn “unprivileged belligerents”.
New Pentagon Manual Declares Journalists Can Be Enemy Combatants
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3304047/posts
The 0bama administration hates the word “free” and any organization that incorporates it into their name; and most especially the press.
Translation: Beacon is on the White House Enemies List
Actually the Translation should read: Free Beacon only true Journalists questioning Adminstration.
The Rest are there for Prepared Press Release wrote by the State Department they can forward and get back to the important things like fine dinner parties with all the Politicians...
I’ll bet we will never get to find out everything that is going to be in Obama’s deal with the Iranians. Even after it gets “approved” by Congress.
I get your much-deserved sarcasm. Wasn't it the AP, which handles those credentials, that "mistakenly" went with an image of Ted Cruz with a pistol pointed at his head a few days ago? Hey, do you see that unicorn in my garden?
“You vill tell our story, or you vill tell NO story!”
“You vill NOT embarrass us with your substantive qvestions!”
Ping
My tag line after zero’s first “election” was “it wasn’t an election, it was a coup d’etat”.
Now we see the results and I do believe Obama has done what he set out to do....the fundamental transformation of America. Amazing really that a small minority of determined people can override a sleeping (including idiots) majority.
“... I do believe Obama has done what he set out to do.”
It always helps to have a fully developed game plan. Blackmail a Supreme Court Justice here, blackmail the Speaker there, etc.
If you ever watch him try to get a straight answer outta Harf, you can see the fustration.
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