A Vice News reporter was arrested outside a Donald Trump rally in Houston on Saturday, POLITICO has confirmed.
Alex Thompson was arrested by Houston Police at Omni Westside hotel after attempting to inquire about press credentials to a Trump event being held there, according to a Vice News report.
Thompson was arrested at about 1:30 p.m. ET and was being held at Houston Central jail. He has been charged with trespassing. Later, Vice’s Josh Tyrangiel tweeted that Thompson had been released.
“Our reporter @AlxThomp was released on bond overnight. Many thanks to our excellent lawyers. We urge Harris County to drop the charges,” he tweeted.
Vice News requested access to the event earlier this week, but was told its status at the event was “pending.” Thompson entered the Omni to ask Trump’s communication staff about the final status of Vice News’ access, according to Vice News’ report.
Thompson was confronted by a man who identified himself as the hotel manager and asked the reporter to leave and said the reporter would be arrested if he did not, the Vice News report said. Minutes after the encounter, while waiting to hear back from Trump’s communications staff, Thompson was arrested.
Trump’s campaign released a statement that said it “was not involved in this incident or aware of the details surrounding it.”
“The event organizers were responsible for today’s media presence and requested the campaign limit attendance to the traveling pool,” the statement continued. “The campaign had no staff presence at check-in for guests or media and therefore has no further knowledge of what occurred.”
Trump’s campaign has had a rocky relationship with press throughout the campaign cycle. The Republican nominee’s campaign recently has ended a media blackout for some news organizations, including POLITICO, the Washington Post, and BuzzFeed.
(via: Politico)
