After WH Ban Over Gorka Spat, Reporter Says He Won’t Apologize For Being ‘Provocative’

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 11: Brian Karem of Playboy Magazine (2nd R) argues with conservative military and intelligence analyst and former deputy assistant to President Donald Trump Sebastian Gorka (R) after the Presid... WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 11: Brian Karem of Playboy Magazine (2nd R) argues with conservative military and intelligence analyst and former deputy assistant to President Donald Trump Sebastian Gorka (R) after the President made a Rose Garden statement on the census July 11, 2019 at the White House in Washington, DC. President Trump, who had previously pushed to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, announced that he would direct the Commerce Department to collect that data in other ways. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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Playboy’s top White House correspondent Brian Karem, who is suing the White House to get the ban it placed on him lifted, has no plans to apologize for the spat with Seb Gorka that got him barred.

“I am provocative, and I am a smart-aleck, but I’m not going to apologize for that,” Karem told CNN’s Brian Stelter. “That’s OK, under the First Amendment. There have been far worse altercations occurred in the Rose Garden and by members of the press in the past.”

Stelter told Karem he thought his behavior during the altercation with Gorka, a right wing provocateur who used to work in the White House, was “unprofessional.” Karem said he understood that assessment but argued the White House can’t pick and choose what behavior is acceptable and not, listing out instances in which other reporters’ inappropriate behavior didn’t earn them a boot.

“At the end of the day, this administration, they’re never going to come at you straight on, Brian,” Karem said. “They’re never going to come at you and say, ‘Hey look, we don’t agree with the First Amendment.’ They’re going to come at you sideways. … You cannot sanction actions by one and then make OK the actions of the other in that type of environment.”

Karem, who is represented by attorney Ted Boutrous, the lawyer who helped CNN’s Jim Acosta regain his press pass after the White House barred him earlier this year, is suing President Trump and White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham to try to regain his credentials. The White House placed Karem’s hard pass on a 30-day suspension after the incident with Gorka in the Rose Garden during a social media summit at the White House in July.

Gorka and Karem traded insults after Karem was recorded saying: “This is a group of people who are eager for demonic possession.”

Gorka responded saying Karem was “not a journalist — you’re a punk!”

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Notable Replies

  1. Dorian needs to nudge over just a little bit… Nice storm surge soaking the greens for 24-48 hours would do wonders…

  2. Stelter told Karem he thought his behavior during the altercation with Gorka, a right wing provocateur who used to work in the White House, was “unprofessional.”

    he’ll regret saying that

  3. You ain’t seen nothing yet.
    A knock on the door in the middle of the night.
    Friends and family disappear.
    You are arrested for speaking the truth.
    Trump smiles.

  4. Avatar for pshah pshah says:

    The less Trump has to run on in terms of achievements, the more he’s going to demagogue the media. He’s got nothing else.

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