Trump wouldn’t ban reporters from WH briefing room

Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump said he doesn’t plan to ban reporters from the White House briefing room if elected president.

“It’s a different thing” at the White House, he told CNN in a phone interview Tuesday night.

{mosads}Trump has repeatedly threatened to revoke the press credentials of several media outlets and has followed through in several instances, most recently pulling The Washington Post’s credentials this week.

But the candidate said he wouldn’t act the same way in the White House.

“In my case, I’m a person running for office. I rent these large arenas … so I have an option,” Trump said about denying access to reporters.

“When I’m representing the United States, I wouldn’t do that. But I would let people know if somebody’s untruthful.”

On Monday, Trump said he was revoking the press credentials from the “phony and dishonest” Washington Post. The decision was in part a response to the Post’s coverage of his comments Monday morning about the mass shooting in Orlando, in which Trump questioned President Obama’s commitment to fighting radical Islamic terrorism.

“We’re led by a man that either is not tough, not smart, or he’s got something else in mind,” Trump said during a phone interview on “Fox and Friends.” 

The Post headlined its story: “Donald Trump suggests President Obama was involved with Orlando shooting.” The publication later changed the story’s headline to: “Donald Trump seems to connect President Obama to Orlando shooting.”

Trump said he never implied that the president could somehow be involved in the Orlando shooting. He called it a “disgrace” for the Post to imply that and told CNN Tuesday that he wants to know why Obama isn’t getting “tougher on terrorists.”

Trump said he wanted to be treated fairly and that it’s OK if there are negative stories published about him, as long as they are accurate.

“If I have a bad story, that’s OK, if it’s true. If I deserve it,” he said. “You know, I’ll deserve bad stories on occasion. Hopefully not too often.”

The candidate has been criticized by media outlets for his restrictions.

But Trump again reiterated he wouldn’t change the way the briefing room is run.

“Whoever chooses the people that get the press credentials, I wouldn’t even tamper with that, frankly,” he said. “It’s a much different situation than what I’m doing right now.”