CPAC Shutting Out 'Left-Wing' Journalists to Protect Trump

Former President Donald Trump is pictured speaking at a Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) event in National Harbor, Maryland on March 4, 2023. CPAC leader Matt Schlapp said on Wednesday that the conference would not be giving “left-wing” journalists who are “anti-Trump” or “anti-conservative” credentials to cover this year’s event, which will again be headlined by Trump.

American Conservative Union Chairman Matt Schlapp has vowed to protect former President Donald Trump by blocking certain “left-wing” journalists from receiving credentials to attend the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

Trump, the leading Republican candidate in the 2024 presidential election, is the star guest at this year’s annual CPAC event, which began on Wednesday and will continue through Saturday just outside of Washington, D.C., in National Harbor, Maryland.

Schlapp said during a Wednesday morning appearance on the War Room podcast of former Trump adviser Steve Bannon that he wanted to stop reporters that he claims only “say they’re journalists” from promoting “trumped-up charges” against conservatives.

“If you look at their feeds, 100 percent of their stories are ‘let’s get [Republicans and conservatives],'” Schlapp said. “Donald Trump … deals with it more than anyone. This tactic they’re using against Trump is intergalactic, but they’re using similar tactics against all of us.”

“So, CPAC has a new rule: If you’re a propagandist, you can buy a ticket, like everyone else. But you’re not in the media, and we’re not going to credential you by saying you’re in the media,” he continued.

Schlapp went on to suggest that certain “left-wing people who are in the media” but have a history of attacking Democrats may still be considered for CPAC journalist credentials.

“You know, at least 20 percent or 25 percent of the time they’ll take on [Democratic Senator Bob] Menendez or they’ll say [President Joe] Biden’s too old,” said Schlapp. “They at least have some coverage that you could say, ‘OK, there’s some journalism there.'”

“What’s happened to these corporate media entities is they’re 100 percent,” he added. “If you listen to MSNBC, it’s 100 percent anti-Trump, anti-America, anti-conservative every moment of every day … let’s not credential them anymore.”

Newsweek reached out for comment to CPAC via online press contact form on Wednesday.

Schlapp also shared an image of what he said was a text message to his wife, former Trump aide Mercedes Schlapp, from an unnamed HuffPost reporter in a post to X, formerly Twitter.

The reporter’s message complained that they had covering CPAC since it “was normal,” or about “12 years,” and they had never “been denied credentials” before this year. Mercedes Schlapp replied that she was “waiting for the day HuffPost becomes normal.”

“Just love the exploding heads from leftist propagandists who think they deserve to be treated as journalists,” Matt Schlapp wrote while sharing the exchange. “⁦@mercedesschlapp⁩ got this text last night from the HuffPost ⁦@CPAC⁩ will deny press credentials to these scammers. Enough is enough.”

Schalpp is currently facing a sexual harassment lawsuit from Carlton Huffman, a former staffer for failed Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker. Huffman accuses Schlapp of groping him after a 2022 campaign event in Georgia. Schlapp denies the allegation.

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