Reporters Covering Trump Criticized for Attending President-Elect’s Private Off-the-Record Holiday Gathering

‘Insane and Spineless’ ‘Seems Like a Manipulation’

Covering the Trump campaign, and now the Trump transition is probably one of the more thankless and frustrating jobs jobs around.

Donald Trump hasn’t held a press conference in over 140 days and his regular attacks on the media as “dishonest” and “corrupt” are so virulent members of the secret service have had to protect reporters leaving Trump rallies, while other journalists have been forced to have body guards accompany them thanks to the hate and vitriol Trump has spread against them.

So some are surprised, angered, and questioning how reporters covering the president-elect could attend an off-the-record holiday gathering at Trump’s famous Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach this weekend. 

Sure, many reporters would jump at an off-the-record meeting held in, say, a meeting room or in an office with the president-elect, but this was a holiday feast, as Politico and Axios co-founder Mike Allen shows in these photos posted to Twitter:

 Here’s a group photo:

 And here’s what some had to say about it via Twitter:

 

Image by Jeremy Diamond/Instagram
Hat tip: Mediaite