Russian State Media Briefly Enters Oval Office During Zelenskyy Meeting

The White House last week announced that “all journalists deserve a seat” in the Oval Office press pool. For a fleeting moment on Friday, that included the Russian state media.

A staffer from TASS, a Russian outlet that often promotes glorified coverage of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, was briefly in the room for President Donald Trump’s bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. American media mainstays Reuters and the Associated Press were not granted access.

According to the White House, the Russian reporter’s presence was unplanned.

“TASS was not on the approved list of media for today’s pool,” a White House official said. “As soon as it came to the attention of press office staff that he was in the Oval, he was escorted out by the Press Secretary. He is not on the approved list for the press conference.”

The White House did not address how the unapproved reporter was able to gain access to the Oval Office.

The moment marks just the latest turn in the ongoing saga of the White House backlash against mainstream news. Trump has increasingly tightened media access to the White House, with Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt last week announcing that the administration would control who has access to the White House in the Oval Office press pool – not the independently-elected White House Correspondents Association long tasked with making those decisions.

It also comes as Trump increasingly aligns himself with Putin — and criticizes Zelenskyy — prompting concern that the U.S.’s new ally on the global stage is the Kremlin.