The Trump administration has granted press credentials to Lucian B. Wintrich, the Washington correspondent for Gateway Pundit, to attend White House press briefings<br />and ask questions of the press secretary, Sean M. Spicer.<br />In a telephone interview from the West Wing, Mr. Wintrich, 28, said he would “be reporting far more fairly than a lot of the very left-wing outlets<br />that are currently occupying the briefing room.” He added, “We will be doing a little trolling of the media in general here.”<br />Asked what kind of trolling his fellow White House correspondents might want to prepare for, Mr. Wintrich paused.<br />Bloggers and pundits have been granted access to White House briefings in previous administrations,<br />and Mr. Spicer in recent weeks has taken questions from conservative talk-radio hosts and reporters at local broadcast affiliates.<br />The Gateway Pundit, a provocative conservative blog, gained notice last year for its fervent pro-Trump coverage<br />and its penchant for promoting false rumors about voter fraud and Hillary Clinton’s health that rocketed around right-wing websites.<br />But the inclusion of Gateway Pundit has raised concerns<br />that the Trump administration, which has called the news media “the opposition party,’’ is favoring outlets more sympathetic to its views.<br />On Monday, some journalists complained after Mr. Trump took questions at his news conference only from a local broadcast journalist<br />and a reporter from The Daily Caller, a conservative news site.
