Price On Reporter’s Arrest: The Man ‘Was Not In A Press Conference’

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price, left, accompanied by Maine Gov. Paul LePage, speaks to reporters after a meeting to discuss the state's efforts to fight the opioid epidemic, Wednesday, May 10, ... U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price, left, accompanied by Maine Gov. Paul LePage, speaks to reporters after a meeting to discuss the state's efforts to fight the opioid epidemic, Wednesday, May 10, 2017, at the State House in Augusta, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty) MORE LESS
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Health and Human Service Secretary Tom Price showed little concern on Wednesday for the decision by law enforcement to arrest a reporter who had tried to ask the former congressman a question Tuesday.

The authorities were “doing what they thought was appropriate,” Price said at a New Hampshire event, according to Stat News, though he added that the call to arrest the reporter was “not my decision to make.”

Noting that the reporter, Daniel Heyman, was approaching him while he was walking through a hallway, Price said, “That gentleman was not in a press conference.”

Heyman, who works for the Public News Service, was yelling questions at Price and White House counselor Kellyanne Conway Tuesday while they were at the West Virginia Capitol, according to the police complaint, which charged him with willful disruption of governmental processes. Heyman was asking about whether the GOP health care bill would allow being a victim of domestic violence to be considered a pre-existing condition, the Associated Press reported

The complaint alleged that he was “aggressively breaching” Secret Service agents on hand as protection for the Trump administration officials, and that they were “forced to remove him a couple of times from the area,” according to the Washington Post.

Heyman, at a press conference Tuesday, defended his actions and said that “they decided I was just too persistent in asking this question and trying to do my job and so they arrested me,” according to the AP.

He was released on $5,000 bond, according to Stat News.

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Notable Replies

  1. So said Herr Goebbels…
    .

  2. Health and Human Service Secretary Tom Price showed little concern on Wednesday for the decision by law enforcement to arrest a reporter who had tried to ask the former congressman a question Tuesday.

    <Chekov>
    “Cossacks!”
    </Chekov>

  3. Straight from “The Idiot’s Guide to Being a Dictator” - start arresting the journalists who ask you unpleasant questions.

  4. Clear violation of the first amendment.

    And wholly typical of the Trumpists.

  5. Do all the 2nd amendment gun nuts who voted for the Drumpfster Fire realize what Donnie and his Vladdy have in mind?

    Firearms-Control Legislation and Policy: Russian Federation

    While self-defense and protection of property is a constitutional right guaranteed to Russian citizens, Russian legislation on gun control is relatively strict, limiting the circulation of firearms to Russian citizens older than eighteen years of age with a registered permanent residence, and for the purposes of self-defense, hunting, and sports activities only. The acquisition of guns is based on licenses provided for a five-year period by local police departments at one’s place of residence after a thorough background check, including a review of the petitioner’s ability to store guns safely and an evaluation of his/her medical records. Mentally ill people and those who have been treated for substance abuse are not allowed to possess firearms.

    https://www.loc.gov/law/help/firearms-control/russia.php

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