‘I Was Never Barred’: Major Garrett Recalls Obama Administration’s ‘War’ Against Him And Fox News

Screenshot via social media

Major Garrett, CBS News’ chief Washington correspondent, discussed President Donald Trump’s ban of MS NOW, CNN, and Politico journalists from the White House and the notion that President Barack Obama’s battle with Fox News was a precedent for the move.

Garrett recalled his time as Fox News’s top White House correspondent during the Obama administration on Monday’s episode of his online show The Takeout and offered his take on the differences between what Obama’s team did then, and what Trump is doing now.

“President Trump never, ever, ever, ever compares himself to President Barack Obama. He did today. The White House reached back to Obama’s attempts to limit Fox News coverage of its presidency to justify, or possibly contextualize, Trump’s decision Friday to ban CNN, Politico, and MS NOW from the White House grounds,” began Garrett, adding:

This is a topic I know something about. You see, I was the senior White House correspondent for Fox News when the Obama White House began trashing Fox’s coverage of that administration and attempting, at the margins, to limit my ability to interview key figures within it. Then, as now, other media organizations rallied and refused to participate in one particularly high-profile interview if Fox — meaning me — was excluded.

Back then, there were those in the Obama White House who described the animosity with Fox as a war. Take my word for it: Coming to work every day as a correspondent covering a White House that says it is at war with your network is stressful. At no time, though, was my White House press credential seized, as happened over the weekend to reporters from CNN, Politico, and MS NOW. I was never barred from briefings.

White House officials, including the President, continued to take my questions. Eventually, this so-called war ended, and life — governing for the White House, journalism for me — returned to something approximating normality, though there was some reputational harm suffered by the Obama White House. Not me.

Back to today: no video coverage of Trump today. There’s a reason. CNN, you see, was in the TV pool rotation. Quick explainer: The five dominant TV newsrooms — CBS, ABC, NBC, CNN, and Fox — share the costs and duties of White House coverage on a rotating daily schedule. CNN was up today. Trump has banned CNN. That meant there was a void. The other networks refused to fill it. Still, photographers who cover the White House said they would transmit no photographs until at least midnight tonight, also in solidarity. A federal lawsuit was filed. A court hearing is scheduled for Wednesday. It never got this far in the Obama presidency.

Nevertheless, Trump, in this unique respect, wants to say he’s just like — or not as bad, or maybe worse, but kind of the same as — Obama. Honestly, I can’t quite tell the message they’re sending. But when Trump starts comparing himself to Obama, you know things are very damn strange.

Watch the clip above.

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