April Ryan, White House correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks and a CNN analyst, said in an interview earlier this week that White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders should have to foot the bill for her bodyguard.
In an interview published on Tuesday, Ryan told the Hollywood Reporter that she has had to hire a bodyguard in response to threats of violence waged against her in recent months.
"I've had some people wait for me outside the White House ... There is a concern now. I mean, I've had death threats, I've had craziness. So I have a real concern, an honest, real concern," Ryan said. "Do I have a bodyguard? Yes, I do. Am I paying for it? Yes, I am."
She went on to say she thinks Sanders should have to foot the bill for her bodyguard, especially if she is stirring up the rhetoric "with her boss," a reference to President Donald Trump.
"I did not sign up for this. I was just doing a job," Ryan added.
Ryan has had a contentious relationship with Sanders over the last year. Ryan accused Sanders of engaging in "street politics" back in May, saying the press secretary took her question "personally" and that she was not trying to personally attack her.
"She was blindsided," Ryan said. "This was not a personal attack on her, and for her to say something like, ‘You don't know me,' that was very street. I know there's street politics here, but that was very street."
She has also accused Sanders of engaging in "gutter" politics, adding "there's no room, no place for that in that White House briefing room."
Ryan has a new book coming out on Sept. 1, titled, Under Fire: Reporting From the Front Lines of the Trump White House, where she will reflect on her experience as White House correspondent and how she has been "treated terribly."
She told the Hollywood Reporter she is "putting it out there" with her book because "people see one side of [the story]."
"What's happening is unprecedented. I am a member of the press corps, one of the deans of the press corps now ... and I've been under attack. And lied on. Treated terribly. And if I don't tell the story, you won't get it. So, I'm putting it out there, because people see one side of it. I'm giving you the whole thing ... The way they've treated me for asking questions that are fair and logical," Ryan said.
"They're still very angry at me for asking the question, 'Mr. President, are you a racist?' And that's why I'm on a list ... Since when is asking a question of a president making you a criminal? Or making you an 'enemy of the people?'" Ryan added. She went on to explain her "list" claim, saying there is a "White House blacklist" that she, CNN chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta, and CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins are included on.