President Trump on Friday backed Sebastian Gorka after the former White House adviser confronted a reporter in the Rose Garden a day earlier.
The president weighed in on the commotion a day after Gorka clashed with Playboy correspondent Brian Karem. Gorka got into a shouting match with the journalist, calling him a “punk” and accusing him of making a threat.
“@SebGorka Wins Big, No Contest!” Trump tweeted.
Trump has previously joked about physical attacks on reporters, including joking at a campaign rally last year that Rep. Greg Gianforte (R-Mont.) was aided in the polls because he body-slammed a reporter.
{mosads}Thursday’s kerfuffle took place after Trump announced in the Rose Garden that he was dropping his bid to add a citizenship question to the census. Several conservative social media personalities were seated in the Rose Garden to hear Trump’s announcement, while credentialed media stood behind rope lines in the back.
The mood turned confrontational after the president returned inside, flanked by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Attorney General William Barr.
Gorka stormed over to engage with Karem, and the two got into a heated back-and-forth. Other conservative personalities looked on and began recording on their phones, and a few broke into a chant of “Gorka!” as the encounter played out.
Gorka later spoke to reporters nearby and was asked why he blocks so many people on Twitter.
“I block whoever I want to. I block 16,000 people,” he told Steve Herman of Voice of America. “Because they’re asshats, that’s why.”
Gorka was among the roughly 200 conservatives invited to attend Trump’s social media summit at the White House on Thursday. The crowd included supporters of the president as well as right-wing voices known to have spread conspiracy theories.