NYT Correspondent Says Trump Reminds Him of Covering the Early Days of Putin

I'm not impressed by his attempt to draw a parallel there. Europe is arresting people for doing nothing but praying silently outside an abortion clinic, in one of the "protected zones." They're arresting people for Facebook posts criticizing migrants or causing people "anxiety." I've done a ton of posts of Brits shooting video of police raiding their homes over social media posts, bringing along a psychologist with them. And "60 Minutes" gave us an idea of the climate in Germany.

CBS: "Is posting an insult a crime?"
German prosectors: "Yes"
CBS: "Is it a crime to repost a lie?"
German prosecutors: "Yes" pic.twitter.com/UABb2ch90v

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) February 17, 2025

The Associated Press, on the other hand, is free to publish whatever it wants. It has a seat in the White House briefing room. Its reporter is just not allowed into the Oval Office or Air Force One. That doesn't prevent the AP was printing whatever it likes.

Baker wasn't done white-knighting for the AP, though:

Our colleagues at the @AP are the best in the business, total professionals and straight as they come. Since I started covering the White House in 1996, no president has punished a mainstay of the press pool to enforce his personal choice of what words they use in their stories.

— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) February 14, 2025

That's too bad.

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As Twitchy reported earlier Tuesday, the White House announced that its press team would be assigning seats in the White House briefing room, not the heavily slanted White House Correspondents Association. Baker spoke up again with a ridiculous analogy.

Having served as a Moscow correspondent in the early days of Putin's reign, this reminds me of how the Kremlin took over its own press pool and made sure that only compliant journalists were given access.

— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) February 25, 2025

The message is clear. Given that the White House has already kicked one news organization out of the pool because of coverage it does not like, it is making certain everyone else knows that the rest of us can be barred too if the president does not like our questions or stories.

— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) February 25, 2025

Every president of both parties going back generations subscribed to the principle that a president doesn't pick the press corps that is allowed in the room to ask him questions. Trump has just declared that he will.

— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) February 25, 2025

Important to note, though: None of this will stop professional news outlets from covering this president in the same full, fair, tough and unflinching way that we always have. Government efforts to punish disfavored organizations will not stop independent journalism.

— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) February 25, 2025

"Fair."

Karoline Leavitt shut him down:

Give me a break, Peter.🤡

Moments after you tweeted this, the President invited journalists into the Oval and took questions for nearly an hour.

Your hysterical reaction to our long overdue and much needed change to an outdated organization is precisely why we made it.

Gone… https://t.co/dsR4fLWjpD

— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) February 25, 2025

"Gone are the days where left-wing stenographers posing as journalists, such as yourself, dictate who gets to ask what."

The press did nothing but undermine President Trump's first term with wall-to-wall coverage of the Russia hoax, which was planted by Hillary Clinton's campaign.

I just don't care if the Associated Press is allowed in the Oval Office.

Does Baker remember the early days of the Obama administration, when the White House Correspondents Association sent a letter to the White House complaining about the lack of access to the president? Trump does impromptu press conferences all the time.

If this is the hill the AP wants to die on, fine. But Baker should put down his phone and stop posting nonsense.

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