There was an apparent shift in Donald Trump’s longstanding “blacklist” against certain media outlets on Wednesday, with some previously banned reporters gaining admittance into the presumptive Republican nominee’s speech in New York City.
One of those reporters, BuzzFeed’s McKay Coppins, wrote about covering the speech, saying that he and several other journalists had originally been denied entrance.
BuzzFeed has never been credentialed to a Trump campaign event, a ban that has been attributed to a profile of Trump written by Coppins in 2014.
After he and the other reporters were denied by security officials at the Trump Soho hotel in Manhattan, Coppins wrote that Trump’s press secretary Hope Hicks was summoned outside by another reporter.
“Hicks said she would try to find space for the reporters, and disappeared,” Coppins wrote. “Minutes later, security officials were told to let them in.”
Coppins said later on Twitter that he was initially denied a credential, but Hicks “intervened for some reason and let us in.”
Coppins noted that a reporter from Gawker, another outlet that has been denied credentials by the Trump campaign, was also admitted.
But other outlets previously banned by the Trump campaign remained on the outside.
Two reporters for the Washington Post, which was added to Trump’s so-called “blacklist” earlier this month, were denied admission the media check-in for Wednesday’s speech, according to a spokeswoman for the newspaper.
A photographer for Politico, which has also been blacklisted throughout the campaign, was denied a credential Wednesday.
So was a reporter for The Daily Beast, which has been shunned by the Trump campaign since the site ran a story last year about allegations made and subsequently walked back by Trump’s ex-wife Ivana.
Hicks did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump’s freeze-out of certain media outlets has become one of the most atypical elements of his very atypical campaign. Other outlets that have been on Trump’s so-called blacklist include the Huffington Post and Univision.
It has become a regular practice for reporters who are denied press credentials to Trump events to attend as members of the public.
Trump told CNNMoney that the ban would not remain in effect if he makes it to the White House, but he defended his decision to exclude reporters he deems unfair from his campaign events.
“In my case, I’m a person running for office. I rent these large arenas… so I have an option,” he said.