April Ryan: Trump treats women and minority journalists differently than white males

Journalist April Ryan says President Trump treats women and minority reporters differently than he treats white men in the press corps. 

“You don’t see this kind of exchange happening with white males in that room as much as minorities … or women,” Ryan said Sunday on CNN’s “Reliable Sources.” 

Ryan, a White House correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks, has a tense relationship with the White House and is promoting her new book “Under Fire: Reporting from the Front Lines of the Trump White House.”

She was responding to clips from Trump’s combative exchange with two female reporters last week. He was criticized when he said ABC News’s Cecilia Vega was “shocked that I picked her” when he called on her at a news conference. Trump also told Vega, “I know you’re not thinking. You never do.”{mosads}

During the same news conference, Trump cut off CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, telling her that “you’ve had enough” when she tried asking a question. 

Trump to female reporter: “I know you’re not thinking, you never do.”

Trump: “She’s shocked I picked her, she’s in a state of shock.”
Vega: I’m not, thank you Mr. President.
Trump: “I know you’re not thinking, you never do.”
Vega: “I’m sorry?”
Trump: “Go ahead” pic.twitter.com/hhfFHDNSXk

— Lis Power (@LisPower1) October 1, 2018

President Trump cuts off reporter @kaitlancollins: “You know what, you’ve really had enough. Hey. You’ve had enough” pic.twitter.com/75HL6bWLxp

— Yahoo News (@YahooNews) October 1, 2018

Trump also garnered critical headlines last year when he asked Ryan if she would arrange a meeting between him and the Congressional Black Caucus.

The moment when Trump asks @AprilDRyan if she wants to set up his meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus. https://t.co/XXa7dzbPmT

— Daniella Diaz (@DaniellaMicaela) February 16, 2017

“I’ll tell you what, do you want to set up the meeting?” he said when Ryan asked if he would meet with the Congressional Black Caucus. “Do you want to set up the meeting? Are they friends of yours?”

Ryan said Sunday on “Reliable Sources” that it “doesn’t bode well” for Trump “to do this to women.”

“Washington is a white male-dominated town, and men talk to men. And how does a woman navigate the murky waters in Washington and in that male-dominated room?” she said.

“And it doesn’t bode well for a president of the United States, who sets the tone for the nation, to do this to women. We are the first line of questioning of an American president, along with the men,” Ryan added.