By Jason Lange
WASHINGTON, Oct 24 (Reuters) – The President of the United States, Donald Trump, confirmed on Saturday that he could relocate the White House press corps to another location.
In a post on social media, Trump rejected a report that he planned to remove the White House press room and restore, at the site, a historic pool. He said he never “even thought about doing such a stupid thing.”
However, he stated that he might relocate the group of journalists from its current position in the White House.
“I can move the Fake News to a less unpleasant location,” wrote Trump in the post.
The New York Times reported on Tuesday that Trump had asked then-press secretary Karoline Leavitt, in August, to move the press conferences outside the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, at the White House, but the idea was never implemented.
Also read: Trump’s press secretary leaves post after less than a week
According to the report, the president told aides that he would prefer a covered therapeutic pool installed at the site during the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration. The Nixon administration replaced the pool with the press room.
Trump has regularly accused the American media of unfair coverage of his administration. Last month, he briefly banned journalists from CNN, from MS NOW and from Politico from the White House grounds and said that other outlets could face similar restrictions. Advocates of free speech said the move violated the protections of the First Amendment to freedom of the press.
The White House restored access to these journalists after an order from a federal judge, who deemed the ban likely unconstitutional, although the Trump administration continues to contest the case.
(Reporting by Jason Lange in Washington)
