Tuesday’s White House press briefing nearly devolved into a free-for-all when a reporter who was passed over for a question opportunity cut off another journalist and bellowed at Press Secretary Sarah Sanders anyway, interrupting them five separate times.
April Ryan, a correspondent from American Urban Radio Networks who doubles as a CNN commentator, demanded to be heard about police shootings of black men as Sanders announced that she would take one final question – and called on someone else.
Ryan had already posed a question to economics adviser Kevin Hassett earlier in the same briefing, asking him about black unemployment.
But the news of the day was President Donald Trump’s decision to disinvite the Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles from a White House event, and his decision to link that move with the long-stewing National Anthem controversy that roiled last year’s NFL season.
To supporters of Trump, that nationwide quarrel has been about the patriotic act of standing when the Anthem is played. For his vocal critics, it’s a reminder of what she sees as racial inequality in the way police officers treat suspects.
After Sanders called on CBS News Radio’s Steven Portnoy to close out the Q&A session, an out-of-turn Ryan leapt in.
CNN contributor April Ryan, a correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks, tangled with White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders on Tuesday – interrupting her at least five times as she demanded an answer to a question despite not being called on from the podium
Sanders was visibly annoyed but never raised her voice; she chied Ryan for ‘rudely interrupt[ing] me and your colleague’ she told Ryan: ‘I would be happy to answer … if you would stop talking long enough’
President Trump disinvited the Philadelphia Eagles from a White House event in their honor on Tuesday, citing their planned boycott over his position on NFL players protesting during pre-game performances of the National Anthem
‘Is the president aware that this is about police-involved shootings and not about disrespecting the flag?’ she shouted.
‘Stephen, if you can go ahead,’ the unruffled press secretary continued.
‘I understand you’re going to Stephen,’ Ryan interjected with cameras rolling. ‘But I’m asking – there’s an underlying issue and it keeps going, about disrespect of the flag and soldiers.’
‘There are black and brown soldiers that fight in the military as well, who feel that taking a knee, bringing a tension to police-involved shootings, is something that this White House should deal with. Is the president aware that taking the knee is about police-involved shootings?’
Sanders decided to engage but was interrupted again.
‘The president has made his position crystal-clear, and that it’s about –’ she began, before Ryan stopped her a third time.
‘Is he aware that it’s about police –’
Losing patience as the briefing threatened to spiral out of control, Sanders shifted into lecture mode.
‘I let you rudely interrupt me and your colleague,’ she told Ryan. ‘I’m going to ask that you allow me to finish my answer. I would be happy to answer it if you would stop talking long enough to let me do that.’
Ryan has stirred up controversy in the White House briefing room before.
Last week she earned glares in the White House for retweeting an article titled: ‘Is the Trump administration running a child-trafficking ring or nah? Follow me down the rabbit hole.’
Two months ago, just after the FBI raided the home, office and hotel room of Trump attorney Michael Cohen, Ryan raised her hand and Sanders called on her.
‘With all of this turmoil, particularly last week, has the president at any time thought about stepping down, before or now?’ she asked.
Ryan is employed by American Urban Radio Networks and has written books about the politics of race; she also is a paid contributor on CNN
‘No, and I think that’s an absolutely ridiculous question,’ the press secretary shot back as other reporters shifted nervously in their seats.
After Tuesday’s press conference, she wrote on Twitter that Trump was ‘heckled and booed’ at the start of the patriotic event that replaced the Eagles celebration.
‘Breaking: Reporters on the South Lawn have confirmed the @RealDonaldTrump was heckled and booed when he came out to celebrate America,’ Ryan tweeted.
A White House official told DailyMail.com that press staff in the West Wing were furious.
‘What the living hell is this?’ the official asked. ‘How in God’s name can we get people [journalists] to actually come to events before they start reporting about them?’
Ryan was in the briefing room as the president took the stage outside. Reporters on the scene, and video broadcast on television, made it clear that a lone protester shouted: ‘Stop hiding behind the armed services and the National Anthem!’
Many in the crowd booed the heckler. One shouted: ‘Go home!’
Ryan later corrected herself.
‘The original breaking boo tweet was deleted as reporters on the South Lawn who told of the booign [sic] and heckling did not see all of what happened on the other side of the lawn,’ she wrote. ‘After the tape was watched the heckler was booed not @realDonaldTrump.’
April Ryan attracted scorn from the White House las week for retweeting an article which suggested the Trump administration was running a child-trafficking ring
Ryan tweeted and later withdrew a report on Tuesday that Trump was ‘heckled and booed’ at the patriotic event that replaced the Eagles celebration; videos showed a lone heckler shouting and the crowd booing the heckler, not the president
The racial policy questions surrounding police-involved shootings are thorny ones, with public enthusiasm and statistics available to suit both sides of the debate.
The White House’s overarching view has been, as Sanders said in March, that the incidents ‘should be left up to the local authorities’ where they happen.
Social justice activists point out that while blacks make up 13 per cent of the U.S. population, they were killed in 27 per cent of last year’s fatal police-involved shootings.
Law enforcement advocates don’t dispute those numbers, which come from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, an agency within the U.S. Department of Justice.
But they suggest behavior during police stops and arrests – not race – may be the determining factor.
The Washington Post reported after analyzing 595 cases involving a mixture of races in 2015 that 74 per cent of them involved suspects who ‘had already fired shots, brandished a gun or attacked a person with a weapon or their bare hands.’
About 5 per cent of cases are typically ‘second-guessed,’ the paper concluded, including ‘individuals who police said failed to follow their orders, made sudden movements or were accidentally shot.’
The Post’s work won the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting.
Trump held a patriotic event at the White House to replace a planned celebration with the Philadelphia Eagles after most of the team boycotted – a move that Trump attributed to their opposition to his view that it’s inappropriate to kneel in protest during the National Anthem
Ryan, who was not at the outdoor event, tweeted shortly after it started that a Trump was ‘heckled and booed’ at his own White House; a CNN producer corrected her, pointing out that there was a lone heckler, and the crowd booed at him – not at Trump; Ryan later retracted the tweet and blasted out the correct information
In the paper’s database of all police shootings in the United States last year, 59 per cent involved suspects who were armed with guns. Another 16 per cent had knives.
About 7 per cent – 68 people in all – were unarmed when police shot and killed them.
Statistics didn’t make an appearance in the White House briefing room on Tuesday, but Sanders restated Donald Trump’s belief that the controversy is rooted more in anti-patriotism than racism.
The president, she said, ‘feels strongly that standing for our National Anthem is something that we should do, something that matters to what makes our country special and unique and what sets us apart.’
‘He’s not going to waver on that. He’s not going to apologize for it. And frankly, more than 70 per cent of Americans agree with him on that matter.’
‘Stephen, last question,’ she said at last, turning to Portnoy.
Ryan wasn’t finished.
‘But people who are standing want to absolutely deal with the problem of police-involved shootings!’
‘April, I’ve addressed your question and I’m not going to continue to engage with you,’ Sanders replied. ‘Stephen?’
As cameras focused on Portnoy, an international audience could hear Ryan piping up one last time.
‘Will the president deal with the issue of police-involved shootings?’ she asked again.
‘I’m going to deal with the issue of addressing your colleague’s question,’ Sanders snarked quietly.
‘Well, it’s a real question!’ said Ryan, ensuring she had the last word.