A Washington Post reporter who was ejected by the State Department this weekend from a press conference with Secretary of State John Kerry was shouting questions before she was booted from the room, according to a State Department official familiar with the incident.
Carol Morello, a diplomatic correspondent for the Post, was attending a press event on Sunday with Kerry and Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov when she purportedly "shouted a question" about the Obama administration’s critical comments on Uzbekistan’s human rights record, according to the official, who would only speak to the Washington Free Beacon on background.
Administration officials then ejected Morello from the room, according to multiple reports.
A State Department official said that Morello had shouted a question during a time when none were being taken.
"It was a shouted question at the end of a photo spray with no questions as the press was being ushered out—no more and no less," the official said. "You know we work hard to provide access on these trips, but this was just a spray with no time for questions."
A Washington Post spokesperson declined to comment on the incident when contacted Monday by the Free Beacon.
A Free Beacon reporter was ejected from a State Department briefing held in Vienna in June.
While the reporter was credentialed by the Viennese government to cover the talks, State Department officials objected to the reporter attending a briefing with U.S. nuclear negotiator Wendy Sherman.