The White House on Thursday slammed attacks that it banned a CNN reporter Wednesday from a Rose Garden press event featuring President Donald Trump.
"You ask her if we ever used the word 'ban,'" Bill Shine, deputy chief of staff for communications, told Politico.
He was referring to CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins, who said she was denied access to the event with Trump and Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission.
She reported that she was not allowed to attend the press event after she asked Trump a question earlier Wednesday that was deemed "inappropriate" by White House officials.
Shine on Thursday told Politico that he objected to the word "ban" being displayed on television screens by networks during coverage of what happened to Collins.
However, he did not say on which network he saw the word "ban."
"When you ask her if we ever use the word 'ban,' then I will answer that," Shine said.
In a statement Wednesday, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that a reporter had shouted questions and refused to leave at the conclusion of an Oval Office press event "despite repeatedly being asked to do so."
"Subsequently, our staff informed her she was not welcome to participate in the next event, but made clear that any other journalist from her network could attend," Sanders said.
"To be clear," she continued, "we support a free press and ask that everyone be respectful of the presidency and guests at the White House."