Skip to main content
Open this photo in gallery:

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office, on Oct. 11, 2019.Yuri Gripas/Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign said on Monday it will no longer issue press credentials to reporters working for Bloomberg News, the agency owned by Democratic presidential-hopeful Michael Bloomberg.

The news agency said after Mr. Bloomberg’s announcement of his presidential bid that it would no longer critically cover the Democratic presidential candidates – including Mr. Bloomberg and his rivals – but would go on covering Mr. Trump.

Mr. Trump’s re-election campaign made the announcement. It was not immediately clear whether the Trump White House would change how Bloomberg reporters are treated. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Credentials enable reporters to more easily access rallies and other campaign events leading up to the November, 2020 election. Members of the public must obtain tickets from the campaign and then wait in long lines to enter events.

“Since they have declared their bias openly, the Trump campaign will no longer credential representatives of Bloomberg News for rallies or other campaign events,” Mr. Trump’s campaign manager, Brad Parscale, said in a statement.

“We will determine whether to engage with individual reporters or answer inquiries from Bloomberg News on a case-by-case basis.”

Mr. Bloomberg, the former New York mayor and billionaire media mogul who owns the eponymous news organization, announced on Nov. 24 that he would seek the Democratic nomination for president. Separately, he is spending US$100-million of his own money on digital ads attacking Mr. Trump.

In response to the Trump campaign announcement, Bloomberg News quoted editor-in-chief John Micklethwait as saying, “The accusation of bias couldn’t be further from the truth.

“We have covered Donald Trump fairly and in an unbiased way since he became a candidate in 2015 and will continue to do so despite the restrictions imposed by the Trump campaign.”

After Bloomberg announced his White House candidacy, Mr. Micklethwait released a memo stating the news agency would “continue our tradition of not investigating Mike [and his family and foundation], and will extend the same policy to his rivals in the Democratic primaries.”

However, he said, the business-focused news organization would continue “to investigate the Trump administration, the government of the day.”

Our Morning Update and Evening Update newsletters are written by Globe editors, giving you a concise summary of the day’s most important headlines. Sign up today.

Follow related authors and topics

Authors and topics you follow will be added to your personal news feed in Following.

Interact with The Globe