Trump Source: Joe Burbank AP

Trump Admin Keeps White House Christmas Party White: Black & Gay Reporters Not Invited

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The Trump administration is doing its best to keep the "white" in the White House Christmas party. According to multiple reports, African American and Rainbow-affiliated reporters were omitted from the guest list this year.

According to The Washington Post, April Ryan, the African American White House correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks and CNN contributor was left off the guest list for the White House Christmas party for the first time in 20 years.

"I don't think I was overlooked," she told The Washington Post. "I think they don't like me. For whatever reason, they have disdain for me."

Ryan has subtly and no-so-subtly clashed with White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders during press briefings this year. The Hill notes that last month she sparked Sanders' ire by asking if the Trump administration "thinks slavery is wrong."

But Ryan wasn't the only member of the press corps whose invitation got "lost in the mail." According to Politico, Chris Johnson of the Washington Blade, the only reporter in the press corps working for an LGBTQ news website, says he too was not invited.

"I assumed it was an oversight because I'm at the White House every day and contribute to the pool reports," Johnson told Politico.

But when Johnson reached out to Trump officials to ask why he was not on the guest list, he received no answer.

Johnson has also publicly sparred with Sanders, who he says freezes him out and never calls on him for questions.

"The lack of invite is very consistent with me being ignored by White House press secretary Sarah Sanders during the press briefings," Johnson said.


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