Conservative website Breitbart was denied permanent press credentials from the Senate Press Gallery’s Standing Committee of Correspondents on Tuesday, the Independent Journal Review (IJR) reported.
The website, formerly run by Trump White House senior counselor Steve Bannon, will also see its temporary passes expire on May 31, according to IJR.
According to the official U.S. Senate Press Gallery website, the five-member credentialing committee is comprised of fellow journalists who are elected in staggered two-year terms, with three individuals being elected in the January of every odd-numbered year and two being elected in the January of every even-numbered year.
“This isn’t content-driven, and we are not singling out Breitbart,” committee chairman Billy House of Bloomberg News said, IJR reported. “Our job is to do the best that we can in seeing how the information they’ve provided meets our requirements.”
Of concern to Mr. House and other committee members, IJR noted, were nailing down questions about where Breitbart’s “office space is located [and] the specific roles of the people on its masthead” as well as “inconsistencies in the timeline of Bannon’s departure” from the website.
According to its official website, to be admitted to the gallery as a credentialed correspondent, “The applicant must reside in the Washington, D.C., area, and must not be engaged in any lobbying or paid advocacy, advertising, publicity or promotion work for any individual, political party, corporation, organization, or agency of the U.S. Government, or in prosecuting any claim before Congress or any federal government department, and will not do so while a member of the Daily Press Galleries.”
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