The US Secret Service on Monday evening told members of the White House press corps to immediately leave the White House grounds.
The US Secret Service on Monday evening told members of the White House press corps to immediately leave the White House grounds.
The decision came during an ongoing demonstration in Lafayette Square, across the street from the White House where protesters were trying to bring down a statue of former President Andrew Jackson that stands in the middle of the park. Those protesters were eventually pushed back out of the park by police.
The US Secret Service issued a statement early Tuesday, saying «four members of the media were misdirected» to leave the White House grounds.
Journalists, including two CNN employees, were told they had to leave the White House grounds immediately via the South side of the complex, which is not the normal entrance/exit for the press. The move to force members of the media off White House grounds is highly unusual. Typically in security situations at the White House, the press corps is locked down inside the complex.
A Secret Service spokesperson said in a statement to CNN, «On Monday evening, in response to the increasingly violent demonstrations in Lafayette Park, four members of the media were misdirected by the Secret Service to leave the White House grounds. The members of the press were rerouted to exits on the south side of the complex for their own safety.
