CNN Reporter Says State Department Staffer Demanded She Name Sources

CNN reporter Michelle Kosinski on Wednesday alleged that a State Department communications adviser demanded that she reveal her sources or else be cut off from further access to the agency.

Kosinski wrote in a Facebook post she headlined “This Is How Your Government Responds to Unfavorable News Coverage” that R.C. Hammond (pictured above), communications adviser to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, leveled personal attacks against her and ultimately resorted to threats when she refused his demands.

“He kicked off the conversation with a venomously irate ‘What the hell are you doing??!!'” Kosinski wrote.

She said Hammond then asked her to “at least tell him what jobs” her sources held at the State Department.

“I had to explain to him that wasn’t how it worked,” Kosinski wrote. “This, mind you, is someone employed by the US government to act as a communications professional.”

She went on to say Hammond then told her she was losing the “shred of credibility” she had left, and subsequently threatened to cut her off from State Department information and responses.

Kosinski wrote that she asked Hammond to “name one time he had ever shared information” with her or responded to an email she sent.

According to Kosinski, Hammond explained his unresponsiveness like so: “WE don’t think you’re smart enough to HANDLE OUR information!!!!”

The State Department did not immediately respond late Wednesday to TPM’s request for comment.