Kathy Gray, New York Times correspondent, and former political reporter for the Detroit Free Press, was asked to leave the Trump rally yesterday in Freeland, MI after using photos she took of Trump supporters not wearing masks, to shame them on Twitter.

Before attending the rally, Gray tweeted a message from known Trump-hating Democrat Rep. Dan Kildee of Flint: Donald trump is a clown who simply wants to get himself reelected, even if it puts his supporters at risk.

At 10:39 Gray tweeted a ridiculous criticism of President Trump by Michigan’s unpopular Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer. The governor who is destroying the economy of Michigan with her draconian lockdown orders, called President Trump the “biggest threat to the American people.”

At 6:58, Gray tweeted an image of the crowd awaiting Trump’s arrival at the airstrip.

“Crammed in crowd in the rain for the trump rally in michigan. Not many masks”

Gray was clever enough to catch a shot of Trump supporters without masks, but not clever enough to capitalize “Trump” or “Michigan.”

https://twitter.com/michpoligal/status/1304192444465123339?s=20

She tweeted another image of the crowd as Air Force One landed in Freeland, MI., saying, “And so it begins”

In her next tweet, Gray writes: “I’ve just been kicked out of the trump rally.”

https://twitter.com/michpoligal/status/1304197574577074179?s=20

Several minutes later, she tweeted again: “First for me. Trump campaign tracked me down from pics i tweeted and escorted me out.”

https://twitter.com/michpoligal/status/1304202299896729600?s=20

But here’s what the dishonest NYTs correspondent didn’t tell everyone…

According to a source with the Trump campaign, Gray was not credentialed as press but was present as a general admission attendee. Staff informed her that if she wanted to stay as press, she had to apply for credentials. Gray could have stayed as a guest of the event if she didn’t act as press but was asked to leave when she chose to continue

 

 

A Trump campaign spokesman confirmed with The Hill that Gray did not obtain press credentials “through the normal process” and was in the general admission section of the rally.

According to the campaign Gray was given the choice to stay in general admission but not while reporting.

The New York Times responded, saying that Gray was removed “when she registered and attended as a member of the public.”

“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,” a New York Times spokesperson said in a statement. “Our goal is to cover these campaign events and talk to voters about the candidates, and that’s what Kathy was trying to do.”

As a Michigan resident, I can attest that former Detroit Free Press writer Kathy Gray is very well-known in political circles, it’s very likely that someone who knew her at the event suggested the Trump campaign stop her from taking photos of them to use for publication in the NYTs since she was not credentialed to do so.

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