White House press deputy lashes out at reporter doubting Trump’s location

White House press deputy Hogan Gidley blasted a reporter who questioned whether or not President Trump was working at his Oval Office desk on Monday.

Playboy reporter and CNN analyst Brian Karem tweeted Monday morning that Trump was lying when he claimed to be in the Oval Office because no Marine was stationed outside the door, which is customary when the president is in the office.

Gidley fired back, saying he saw Trump himself in the Oval Office minutes before his tweet.

“So, now I’m just waiting for you and the rest of your ilk to either stop jumping to false conclusions, correct the record, or, here’s a thought, call the press team to ask,” Gidley wrote on Twitter.

POTUS tweet minutes ago claimed he was in the Oval Office. No marine there so that’s another lie. ⁦@realDonaldTrump⁩ pic.twitter.com/rnJnQt88HO

— Brian J. Karem (@BrianKarem) December 31, 2018

{mosads}Karem has clashed with the White House press team before. In June, he demanded White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tell him during a briefing whether she had any “empathy.”

The latest Twitter spat continues the back-and-forth between the White House and media outlets, particularly CNN.

Trump has often referred to CNN and other outlets as “fake news” and the “enemy of the people.”

Karem’s observation of an allegedly empty Oval Office came minutes after Trump called on Democrats to come back to Washington to pass a year-end spending bill.

“I’m in the Oval Office,” he tweeted. “Democrats, come back from vacation now and give us the votes necessary for Border Security, including the Wall. You voted yes in 2006 and 2013. One more yes, but with me in office, I’ll get it built, and Fast!”

Normally, Trump’s presence in the Oval Office would not be as scrutinized, but with the ongoing government shutdown and Trump’s cancellation of his trip to his Mar-a-Lago resort, reporters in the White House press corps have been on high alert.

The government has been partially shut down for more than a week as Trump and Democrats face off over his demand for $5 billion for a border wall to be part of a year-end government funding measure.

Trump on Monday night tweeted that he was still working at the White House on New Year’s Eve.