Clinton Campaign Denies Reporter for UK Paper Access to Event

A print pool reporter was denied access to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign Monday, which is a cause for concern about the campaign's transparency.

The campaign denied access to David Martosko, who is the U.S. political editor for London's Daily Mail, when he showed up to cover an event in New Hampshire on Monday morning.

"David Martosko of DailyMail.com was told by Hillary for New Hampshire staffer Meredith Thatcher that he was not approved for Monday's pooled events," the paper reported.

"When Martosko asked Thatcher to phone her boss, Harrell Kirstein, he was again told that he had not been approved by the campaign."

He was also told that he was prohibited from traveling in the pool vans. Martosko was given a mix of reasons for the decision.

"We’ve been getting a lot of blowback from foreign outlets that want to be part of the pool and we need to rethink it all, maybe for a day, and just cool things off until we can have a discussion," Clinton press aide Nick Merrill told Martosko.

When Martosko pointed out that The Guardian, which is also a British newspaper, had a reporter in Clinton's pool, Merrill then told him that the Daily Mail doesn't qualify because it doesn't have a print reporter in the White House, and the campaign is trying to follow the same protocol as the White House.

Martosko pointed out that the Daily Mail had a White House correspondent that was vetted and has a hard pass, and that the paper not being part of the White House's regular print pool was not due to a choice but because of timing.

Merrill then continued to say that it was not because the Daily Mail is foreign press, but that the campaign needed a day to "have a conversation" about the situation.

Martosko told the Clinton aide that he sounded like he was contradicting himself. The Daily Mail reporter also said that he was sent there by the pool and that he would show up at every event whether he was given access or not.

However, when Martosko showed up to cover an education event in the morning, he was denied access by the Secret Service.

Related Stories:

• Carly Fiorina: Hillary Speech 'Contradictory,' But a 'Good Launch'
• Poll: Hillary Has Hefty Lead Among Dems in Iowa, S. Carolina