FCC disputes reporter’s account of being ‘manhandled’ by security

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is disputing a reporter’s claim that he was “manhandled” by security personnel outside of an open hearing in May.

John Donnelly, a reporter for CQ Roll Call, said after the incident on May 18 that security officers pinned him against a wall in the hallway when he tried to ask Commissioner Michael O’Rielly a question as he walked by.

In letters to Sens. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) dated July 2, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said his security personnel had a different story.

{mosads}In their account, one guard saw Donnelly trying to enter restricted areas and asked him to return to the public section of the building. Donnelly responded by saying that he was looking for a bathroom, and the guard pointed one out and then waited outside of it to make sure that the reporter “did not attempt either intentionally or unintentionally to go into a restricted area of the building when he exited.”

Later, when Donnelly tried to ask a question of O’Rielly in the hallway, one security guard explained that the commissioner did not want to take any more questions following his press conference. And when Donnelly approached O’Rielly, another guard inadvertently backed into the reporter.

Pai said that the two security officers denied that Donnelly was pinned against the wall, and that five other witnesses were unable to corroborate his account.

“In sum, the incident with Mr. Donnelly should not have happened,” Pai wrote. “The FCC has publicly apologized to Mr. Donnelly, and has counseled the Commission’s security staff. Furthermore, we have instructed security officers that the Commission will not physically engage anyone that comes to a Commission open meeting, unless they are purposefully disrupting the meeting or they pose a threat to the safety of FCC employees.”

Pai apologized for the fact that there was any physical contact between Donnelly and the security guard.

“I appreciate that Chairman Pai has offered an apology, but his version of the facts is inaccurate,” Donnelly told The Hill in an email. “I never attempted to enter a restricted area. That is false. Even if the guards had somehow convinced themselves that I was trying to enter a restricted area, that does not excuse what they did.

“As for the supposedly ‘inadvertent’ physical contact with me: if it was an accident, then why didn’t they say so then or apologize? When I asked them then and there why I was knocked backwards, the head of security, Frederick Bucher, did not deny doing so but instead asked me why I hadn’t asked my question during the press conference. That tells you they knew I was a reporter and they felt justified in knocking me back.”

Donnelly also reiterated that he was pinned against the wall for several seconds. 

“We believe John,” the National Press Club said in a statement on Wednesday. “One reason that this incident prompted such a widespread and vehement reaction among the press corps is his standing. He is widely recognized by his colleagues as an absolute pro: polite, serious and the furthest thing from a showboater. So the account of the events you have given the Senate simply does not ring true to us.”

Pai told the senators that his agency had been on high alert because of its controversial proceeding to repeal its net neutrality rules. The chairman said that at least one of the commissioners has received death threats related to the issue.