CPAC bans ‘left-wing’ journalists for defending Trump

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

Trump, the leading Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential election, is the featured guest at this year’s annual CPAC event, which begins Wednesday and runs through Saturday in National Harbor, Maryland, outside Washington, D.C.

Schlapp said during an appearance on his show Wednesday morning. War room Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon said on his podcast that he wanted to stop reporters who “only say they’re journalists” from promoting “trumped-up accusations” against conservatives.

“If you look at their feed, 100% of their stories are about, “Here we go. [Republicans and conservatives]” Schlapp Said. “Donald Trump…is working on this problem more than anyone else. 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 tickets like everyone else. But you’re not part of the media, you’re part of the media. “I’m not going to prove my credentials by saying ‘media,'” he continued.

Schlapp went on to suggest that certain “left-wing figures in the media” with a history of attacking Democrats could still be eligible for CPAC journalistic status.

“You know, at least 20 or 25 percent of the time, they [Democratic Senator Bob] Menendez, or so they would say [President Joe] “Biden is too old. They’re at least reporting in a way where you can say, ‘Okay, there’s journalism in there,'” Schlapp said.

“What has happened to these corporate media is that they are 100 percent,” he added. “When I listen to MSNBC, every moment of every day is 100 percent anti-Trump, anti-American, anti-conservative…I’m not going to trust them anymore.”

newsweek CPAC was contacted for comment via an online press contact form on Wednesday.

Schlapp also shared an image of a text message from an anonymous HuffPost reporter to his wife, Mercedes Schlapp, a Trump aide. post to X, formerly Twitter.

The reporter’s message complains that he has been covering CPAC since it was a “normal thing” for “about 12 years” and that until this year, he had never been “denied eligibility.” Stated. Mercedes Schlapp replied, “I’m waiting for the day when HuffPost becomes normal.”

“I love when the heads of left-wing propagandists who think they deserve to be treated as journalists explode,” Matt Schlapp wrote while sharing the exchange. “@mercedesschlapp received this message from HuffPost last night. @CPAC denies media credentials to these scammers. Enough is enough.”

Scharp is currently facing a sexual harassment lawsuit from Carlton Huffman, a former staffer to unsuccessful Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker. Huffman accused Schlapp of groping her after a 2022 election campaign in Georgia. Mr. Schlapp denies the charges.