Donald Trump’s Campaign Cuts Off Access After Refusing To Allow NBC News’ Vaughn Hillyard As Designated Pool Reporter

Donald Trump’s campaign refused to agree to let an NBC News correspondent travel with him on New Hampshire campaign stops today as the designated pool reporter, leading to access being cut off for the day.

According to a pool report obtained by Deadline, correspondent Vaughn Hillyard was informed “that if he was the designated pooler by NBC News that the pool would be cut off for the day.”

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“After affirming to the campaign that your pooler would attend the events, NBC News was informed at about 2:20pmET that the pool would not be allowed to travel with Trump today,” the pool report stated.

It’s believed by sources at the network that the campaign refused to allow Hillyard in the pool because of his questions on Saturday to Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), a Trump surrogate, about the E. Jean Carroll case. A jury last year found Trump liable for sexual assault of Carroll and later defaming her, and a trial is currently taking place in New York largely to determine additional damages.

“Do you believe E. Jean Carroll?” Hillyard asked.

Stefanik said, “They are all witch hunts against Donald Trump and the reason is he is pulling ahead of Joe Biden.”

She seemed to be irritated by the question and added, “The media is so biased. This is just another example of the media being out of touch…”

Hillyard added, “It’s not me. It’s not the media, it’s a jury that found…”

Stefanik added, “The media is so out of touch with the American people. Like 2016, you are going to see the American people speak out loudly and clearly with their vote.”

Puck first reported on the Trump campaign’s restriction of Hillyard.

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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