Trump's off-the-record cocktail party with reporters draws criticism

pulse

December 19, 2016 3:58 PM

An off-the-record gathering between President-elect Donald Trump and members of the media earned criticism and sparked debate over whether journalists were pushing Trump enough to make himself available on the record.

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On Sunday, some high-profile reporters and 2016 presidential campaign embeds schmoozed with Trump and members of his transition team at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, drinking and posing for individual and group pictures with the president-elect, who attended for a half an hour.

The online backlash to the meeting was swift after Mike Allen, the former Politico reporter who is cofounding the new media company Axios, posted a photo from the party:

Christmas @ Mar-a-Lago: @re... @ Mike Allen

Though it is hardly uncommon for the president or his staff to meet with reporters off the record, many observers took issue with journalists attending the meeting amid Trump's recent refusal to hold a traditional press conference.

Despite criticizing Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail for failing to hold a press conference, Trump has not held one in 144 days, breaking the custom for presidents-elect to hold press conferences in the days immediately after an election.

The New York Times' Maggie Haberman did not criticize the meeting but pointed out that a similar off-the-record dinner in 2015 hosted by Hillary Clinton's campaign chair, John Podesta, drew the ire of numerous Trump supporters and Trump-friendly media outlets.

Others lamented Trump's frequent demonization of the press, noting how he often used the traveling press pool as a punch line or a target at rallies.

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