CNN reporter Jim Acosta said Wednesday that "the fix is in" between conservative media outlets and the Trump administration for White House press conferences.
Acosta's complaint came shortly after a joint press conference with President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"The two questions that were asked or called upon from the president in this news conference went to the Christian Broadcasting Network, which is obviously owned by Pat Robertson, the televangelist down in Virginia. It's a very conservative broadcasting network, and Townhall.com, which is a very conservative news website," Acosta said. "And so in the last three news conferences, all of the questions to the American news media have been handled by conservative press, and I think there's no other way to describe it but the fix is in."
"This White House, this president, does not want to answer questions, critical questions, about his associates, his aides' contacts with the Russians during the course of that campaign just as his national security adviser is being run out of this White House on a rail," Acosta continued. "I think that this only, you know, they may think that this is being cute or they think this is strategic in terms of trying to shield the president from questions, but those questions can only be shielded for so long."
The Trump administration has changed the way the media interacts with the White House. Many in the White House Press Corps were upset when Press Secretary Sean Spicer stopped giving the first question at press briefings to the Associated Press, instead choosing reporters on his own. Audible complaints have been made by larger media organizations, while some smaller ones feel that they are being treated more equally. The Trump administration has also debuted allowing questions to be asked at press briefings through Skype for reporters outside of Washington, D.C.