WHITE

HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS ASSOCIATION

600 NEW HAMPSHIRE AVE. NW, SUITE 800
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20037



Kellyanne Conway
Campaign Manager
Donald Trump Campaign



October 18, 2016

Dear Kellyanne:
The White House Correspondents Association expresses its profound concern and consternation at the
Trump campaigns failure to establish a protective pool at this late date on the political calendar and
urges you to remedy the situation without delay for the remainder of the 2016 campaign.
The implementation of a protective pool of journalists has a decades-long, bipartisan precedent,
anchored to the principles of the First Amendment. In 2008, Barack Obama and John McCain began their
protective pools in June and July respectively, each prior to their nominating conventions. Mitt Romney
began his protective pool in August 2012. George W. Bush began his protective pool in September 2000.
Establishing a protective pool now will ease the process of forming one on Nov. 9 if Mr. Trump wins on
Election Day. The WHCA expects the new president-elect to have a protective pool immediately, just like
the president does, and we are set to take over coordination of the pooling process from the campaign
press corps directly after the election. Not having a protective pool accompany the president-elect
would be a particularly serious breach of historical precedent and First Amendment responsibilities. It
would prompt consistent and public criticism from the White House press corps, represented by the
WHCA board. We urge you to take steps now to ensure that a protective pool is put in place.
Events on the campaign trail underscore our concerns about the lack of a protective pool. In recent
weeks, the press corps covering Mr. Trump was stranded in New York after the candidate and reporters
traveled on separate aircraft from separate airports to an event in New Hampshire. This resulted in the
press corps missing all but the final three minutes of the candidates address at a rally there. Last month,
the candidate sought to have photographers and videographers follow him on a tour of his new hotel in
Washington. The candidates aides physically restrained the designated television pool producer from
moving with the television crew and failed to tell the print and wire poolers that the pool movement
was taking place. This is unacceptable.
It was a step in the right direction to hear the campaign publicly tout a decision to increase access to the
candidate beginning on Sept. 19. However that decision was apparently reversed by the end of the day.
Moreover, the campaigns stated rationale for not implementing a protective pool that reporters
could not be accommodated on the candidates plane proved false after Mr. Trump flew without a
pool on a backup plane that could have accommodated the press.

The campaign has indicated its desire to provide as much transparency and access to the press as
possible. There is a simple solution: establish a protective pool and allow the press pool to travel on the
candidates plane like every major party nominee in recent memory, including the current Democratic
nominee.
Our concerns about transparency, access, and the timely flow of information from the presidential
candidates are not limited to the Trump campaign. Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton also has failed to
implement a protective pool. We respectfully submit, however, that the Trump campaign is lagging
behind the level of press access provided by its Democratic counterpart. We will continue to advocate
for the publics interest in full transparency from both campaigns and during the post-election transition
going forward.
Thank you for your prompt attention to these concerns. Please let us know if we can help with any
additional information.
Respectfully,


The White House Correspondents Association
Jeff Mason, President
Margaret Talev, Vice President
Olivier Knox, Vice President-elect