Kathy Gray, a New York Times correspondent and former political reporter for the Detroit Free Press based in Michigan, was tapped to cover President Donald Trump's latest MAGA rally. This one was slated for an airstrip in Freeland, Michigan, an unincorporated township of around 5,000 people.
Gray arrived and—like most members of the modern press corps—began to tweet her observations.
Trump rally in freeland attracts thousands . Maybe 10% have masks.
— Kathy Gray (@michpoligal) September 10, 2020
Crammed in crowd in the rain for trump rally in michigan. Not many masks pic.twitter.com/5DZ6JBVNK8
— Kathy Gray (@michpoligal) September 10, 2020
Air force one just landed
— Kathy Gray (@michpoligal) September 10, 2020
And so it begins pic.twitter.com/fuLY4oasjP
— Kathy Gray (@michpoligal) September 10, 2020
While Gray's tweets look like simply reporting on what is happening around her, something in them was unacceptable to the Trump campaign.
13 minutes after her prior tweet, Gray was escorted from the venue by security.
I've just been kicked out of the trump rally.
— Kathy Gray (@michpoligal) September 10, 2020
How was she singled out?
Her tweets.
First for me: Trump campaign tracked me down from pics i tweeted and escorted me out.
— Kathy Gray (@michpoligal) September 10, 2020
Gray's first tweet was at 6:57pm and by 7:18pm she had been ejected.
In a statement, vice president of communications for The New York Times, Danielle Rhoades Ha shed more light on the situation.
The Times said:
"We're disappointed that the Trump campaign refused to credential our freelancer and then, when she registered and attended as a member of the public, they ejected her from the event."
"Our goal is to cover these campaign events and talk to voters about the candidates, and that's what Kathy was trying to do."
This is not the first time the President and his campaign have targeted The New York Times.
Reactions to Gray's removal were polarized.
Not ok. This is a big deal
— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) September 11, 2020
I'm sorry. Maybe the @nytimes can now stop treating this dictator like he's a normal president.
— Tzippy Shmilovitz 🤦♀️ (@Tzipshmil) September 11, 2020
Following !
Anybody who gets escorted out of a Trump white supremacist Fascism rally
Is a friend of mine
💙🌊🇺🇸💙🌊🇺🇸
— Skate Grrl 🌊💙🇺🇸🌊 (@RebelGrrlUSA) September 10, 2020
I'm sure you were being a Karen and annoying people about not wearing masks. Hack. Lmao
— kellyjanefromTX (@kj8217) September 11, 2020
Snowflakes.
Just unbelievable.
— Welp... (@thejohnnymop) September 10, 2020
We don't like losers who sprew out negativity
— Rickey Frye (@rcfrye51) September 11, 2020
Um, how is this legal?
— Christine Galea (@chrisgalea) September 10, 2020
Good. Your ticket could've gone to someone who truly wanted to be there!! Unless you thought for a a second that your attending and hearing what he had to say could possibly change your mind, you DO NOT BELONG THERE!!!
— PhotographerPatriotCitizen (@ShutterbugCA) September 11, 2020
Yeah, who needs a free press! I'm surprised any of the attendees are even standing. Shouldn't they all be on their knees? Isn't that how they want to live? Why else would they support tyrant?
— Brotoraptor (@Brotoraptor) September 11, 2020
Follower of tRump. I fixed your bio for you pic.twitter.com/kh93E5LcXs
— SunShyne (@DRSunGirl) September 11, 2020
The Trump campaign has, as yet, not responded to requests for a statement regarding why Gray was not credentialed and ultimately ejected.
Gray told Bridge Michigan:
"I had done some interviews and was standing off to the side of the tarmac. They tracked me down from the photos I had taken and tweeted, came over and kicked me out."
"They said because I was using my work Twitter account and since I didn't have media credentials I couldn't be working there, and I had to leave."
She missed Monday's credential request deadline by a day, but subsequently reached out to the campaign multiple times to request access and got no response. A Trump campaign official reportedly saw her tweets and alerted security.
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