A reporter who doubted whether White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders actually baked a pecan pie for Thanksgiving has not been invited to the White House media Christmas party.
April Ryan, the White House correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks, said on Thursday that she has ‘given up trying to figure out why’ she didn’t receive an invite to Friday’s annual event.
The White House Christmas party is an annual event in which reporters and editors from news organizations attend a social gathering at the White House and mingle with administration officials in an off-the-record setting.
‘[President Donald Trump] has the right to invite whoever he wants,’ Ryan told The Washington Post.
‘He chose not to invite me. I’m good.’
April Ryan, a reporter who doubted whether White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders actually baked a pecan pie for Thanksgiving, has not been invited to the White House media Christmas party. Ryan is seen above in New Orleans on June 30, 2017
Ryan suspects that her not receiving an invitation is payback for ‘piegate’.
On Thanksgiving Day, Huckabee Sanders had posted a picture on social media of a perfect-looking chocolate pecan pie.
Ryan had noticed the stock photo-nature of the image on Black Friday and tweeted, ‘Show it to us on the table.’
Ryan added in another tweet, ‘I am not trying to be funny but folks are already saying #piegate and #fakepie Show it to us on the table with folks eating it and a pic of you cooking it.’
‘I don’t think I was overlooked,’ Ryan told the Post.
‘I think they don’t like me. For whatever reason, they have disdain for me.’
Ryan also tweeted on Thursday: ‘Thank you for your kind words on not getting a Trump Christmas party invite.
‘But, I was not the only White House Correspondent who covers the beat daily that did not get an invite to the party.
‘I am sad for them especially as I did not plan to go anyway but others wanted to.’
In her 20 years of covering the White House, Ryan says this is the first time she has not been granted an invitation to the party.
CNN announced earlier this week that it disinvited itself from the event due to the president’s frequent attacks against the network and its journalists.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Wednesday refuted the notion that she faked her own pie. She is seen above at the White House on Thursday
Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted a photo of this perfect pie on Thanksgiving day, which prompted the internet to cry out fake pie
At a light-hearted event in Washington on Wednesday, Sanders was asked about the accusation that she faked her own pie.
‘You know, being from the South, I think one of the most offensive things you can accuse somebody of, is a store-bought pie,’ Huckabee Sanders, adding with a laugh that, ‘I usually make it with Bourbon.’
She said that not only is the pecan pie a Huckabee Sanders family Thanksgiving stable, but ‘I make it every holiday for my family, including at Christmas, I used to make it for all of my neighbors on my street.’
‘So if you don’t believe me, go back to Arkansas and check with them,’ she said.
Ryan had noticed the stock photo-nature of the image on Black Friday and tweeted, ‘Show it to us on the table’
Ryan added in another tweet, ‘I am not trying to be funny but folks are already saying #piegate and #fakepie Show it to us on the table with folks eating it and a pic of you cooking it’
Ryan has had verbal clashes with both Sanders’ predecessor, Sean Spicer, and her boss, Trump.
In March, Spicer drew criticism after he told Ryan to ‘stop shaking your head’ during a tense exchange at the White House press briefing.
Spicer grew agitated with Ryan at the press briefing after she pressed him on the how the White House would give itself an image makeover to try to turn around the Russia story.
‘Stop shaking your head again,’ Spicer chided Ryan.
‘It seems like you’re hell-bent on trying to make sure that whatever image you want to tell about this White House stays,’ Spicer told her.
Ryan told CNN she was ‘just asking a question’ but noted Spicer called another female reporter an ‘idiot.’
In recent months, Ryan has had verbal clashes with both Sanders’ predecessor, Sean Spicer, and her boss, President Trump. In March, Spicer drew criticism after he told Ryan to ‘stop shaking your head’ during a tense exchange at the White House press briefing
‘I dropped my head. I didn’t shake my head at first. And I reviewed the tape, I did shake my head towards the end in disbelief,’ she said.
In February, Trump held a lengthy news conference at the White House during which he asked Ryan, who is black, to set up a meeting between him and the Congressional Black Caucus.
Ryan asked the president about his campaign promise to fix America’s inner cities.
‘When you say the inner cities, are you going to include the CBC, Mr. President, in your conversations with your urban agenda, inner city agenda?’ Ryan asked Trump.
‘Well I would, tell you what, do you want to set up the meeting? Are they friends of yours?’ Trump asked.
‘I’m just a reporter. I know some of them,’ Ryan replied.
‘Let’s go, let’s set up a meeting. I would love to meet with the Black Caucus,’ Trump said.
The implication that Ryan is ‘friends’ with members of the Congressional Black Caucus struck critics as racist and insensitive.