It’s not enough that Hillary Clinton won’t take questions from reporters. Now she won’t even let them use the bathroom.
Earlier this morning, a pool reporter with the Daily Mail was denied access to cover a New Hampshire campaign event for Hillary Clinton. Pool reporters will generally cover and write up an event on behalf of a consortium of news organizations and submit their version of events for use by each participating organization. Pool duties rotate among the different reporters or groups in the pool. In this instance, print pool duties were assigned to a reporter for DailyMail.com.
But it wasn’t enough for the campaign to deny access to the reporter to cover the campaign event. No, they had to up the ante. So they refused to even allow the reporter to use a bathroom on site.
The absurd affair was recounted on DailyMail’s website earlier today:
The Clinton campaign denied access to the designated print pool reporter in New Hampshire this morning.
David Martosko of DailyMail.com was told by Hillary for New Hampshire staffer Meredith Thatcher that he was not approved for Monday’s pooled events.
When Martosko asked Thatcher to phone her boss, Harrell Kirstein, he was again told that he had not been approved by the campaign.
Martosko pressed further and asked Thatcher if he was being prohibited from getting on either of the pool vans, to which she replied; ‘I’m afraid that’s right.’
When he asked why, she responded; ‘All I know is what Harrell has told me. I got an email saying the print pooler would be changed for today. Sorry.’
Martosko then spoke with Clinton press aide Nick Merrill for 10 minutes and learned that the campaign would not be allowing the designated print reporter to cover Mrs. Clinton today.Merrill offered varied and contradictory reasons for this decision.
It didn’t stop there, though. The Clinton campaign’s ban on pool coverage of this morning’s campaign event apparently also extended to area bathrooms.
“Your pooler asked if he could come inside to use the restroom,” the report reads. “The Secret Service agent advised that the area had been swept already, so he should ‘hit the woods.'”
The report does not make clear whether Hillary Clinton generally approves of public urination, or whether she only approves of it when it happens on other people’s property. You can read the full pool report below:
After some confusion about the location of the morning’s early childhood education summit in Rochester, NH, your pooler determined that it was at the YMCA of Strafford County and arrived at about 10:20.
Secret Service at the main entrance refused to let your pooler in and advised to go in through another entrance near a playground.
Visiting that doorway, another agent asked for your pooler’s name and outlet, to which the pool replied “David Martosko with The Daily Mail.” A voice from behind the door, whom your pool later learned was the head of Mrs. Clinton’s Secret Service detail, was heard saying “Oh. No.”
The first agent sent your pooler back to the front door, advising that the head of the detail insisted. At the front door again, your pooler was asked to wait while the first agent on duty checked to see if the pool would be admitted.
The answer: “No. You can’t come in.”
Pooler was advised by that Secret Service agent that he had contacted someone “with the campaign” named “Pollard,” who personally said no, your pooler could not come in. It’s unclear who Pollard is.
Your pooler asked if he could come inside to use the restroom. The Secret Service agent advised that the area had been swept already, so he should “hit the woods.”
Pool saw a WMUR-TV truck outside and confirmed with a reporter from a competing local station that there were indeed pool journalist inside from photo and video.
With a light rain falling, your pooler went back to his rental car to file this report, after counting about 210 cars in the parking lots and on the street.
Both press pool vans from Manchester were visible outside, along with the now-famous black “Scooby” van and a contingent of New Hampshire state trooper vehicles.
