A White House correspondent cried foul Tuesday and teased a lawsuit after a record of his heated exchange with White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre experienced a “technical glitch.”
Simon Ateba of Today News Africa had a new bone to pick with the White House communications team following his latest bout in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room. The row, which included Jean-Pierre threatening to walk out, just so happened to be cut from the live stream Monday leading to accusations that it had been erased.
“Should I sue? A friend just reminded me that the ‘@WhiteHouse editing out what you said (to @PressSec) yesterday during the briefing violates the Federal Records Act. The @BarackObama State Department did the same in 2016,'” Ateba wrote on Twitter Tuesday evening.
First of all, kindly support my work here: https://t.co/LSG66yzrf6, there is massive censorship going on against independent journalists.
Second: Should I sue? A friend just reminded me that the “@WhiteHouse editing out what you said (to @PressSec) yesterday during the briefing… pic.twitter.com/G5jNtIfOUM
— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) June 27, 2023
Speaking with Fox News Digital, the correspondent made clear the struggles he has faced to do his job when the administration appears to actively avoid accountability. “I’m Black, I’m an immigrant and I’m the little guy…I’m just trying to do my job.”
As previously reported, Ateba had asked, “Are you going to take questions from me because you’ve been discriminating against me for the past nine months?”
Jean-Pierre had countered, “If this continues we’re gonna end the press briefing…you’re being incredibly rude.”
However, the tense exchange that included correspondent April Ryan siding with the press secretary appeared as though it were erased from the record online.
Karine Jean-Pierre again clashes with Simon Ateba in tense briefing room exchange https://t.co/TVw2o7mGlm via @BIZPACReview
— BPR based (@DumpstrFireNews) June 27, 2023
Fox News Digital reported that after they “reached out for comment about the missing exchange, the portion of the missing video was then restored to the stream. The White House told Fox News that the portion missing was caused by an error with the encoder that feeds the live stream to YouTube.”
Monday’s bout was merely the latest in a series of contentious interactions between Ateba and Jean-Pierre as the correspondent has continually been passed over for questions. The campaign of suppression against him even went as far as to block him from the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in April, making him the only member to face such a snub.
“…if you make the comfortable uncomfortable what happens to you is they try and sideline you. And the other people will be afraid to even come near you because [they] don’t want to be seen close to you, because then they won’t get questions at the next press briefing, then they won’t be invited to social events,” he told Fox News Digital regarding the treatment he has faced.
Ateba also raised his concern once more about President Joe Biden’s administration’s claim to be strengthening ties with Africa when the only African journalist in the WHCA has so frequently been sidelined.
“I’ve done my best. And when you think about it, in the next 50 years, five years, 10 years, 15 years, when people look back and see that African journalist who was there in the briefing room…is just trying to ask the question, and trying to strengthen ties between the U.S. and Africa,” he said. “And you pass on him, you banned him, you sidelined him, you oppressed him, you discriminated against him only to go to Africa and claim that you want to strengthen ties. It’s actually offensive. It’s shocking.”
Notably, Jean-Pierre was absent from Tuesday’s briefing, with White House deputy press secretary Olivia Dalton taking her place behind the podium for the first time.
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
- Starbucks execs say Seattle is a keeper, but their real estate search in Tennessee says another - March 18, 2026
- Chief Justice Roberts takes shot at Trump after nuclear hot blast at SCOTUS, judges - March 18, 2026
- Democrat hack cuts CNBC clip out of context and the spin is shameless, as usual - March 18, 2026
Comment
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.