President Trump made a historic visit to North Korea on Sunday to converse with North Korean despot Kim Jong-Un and the American press quickly found themselves at the mercy of North Korean authorities.
As Trump and Un prepared to meet in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), North Korean security attempted to block the White House press pool from covering the event. As a scuffle between North Korean security and the press broke out, newly minted White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham threw herself into the fray.
According to the Associated Press, Grisham pushed a North Korean security guard aside to allow U.S. cameras access to the event. In a video released by the press, Grisham can be heard saying "Go, go!" as she struggles with a guard.
Grisham was reportedly bruised in the incident, with Bloomberg’s Jennifer Jacobs saying the skirmish came to “body blows.”
To add to madcap day at DMZ, the North Korean security was a little overzealous, at times trying to block US reporters’ view.
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) June 30, 2019
New WH press secretary Stephanie Grisham threw herself into it to make sure the US TV camera got into House of Freedom, and it came to body blows. pic.twitter.com/LYWhbJFkF5
The Secret Service, luckily, soon intervened on behalf of the press, letting them into the event.
While the media constantly criticizes the Trump Administration for endangering press freedom, it seems clear that administration officials, such as Ms. Grisham, would quite literally put their bodies on the line to preserve that freedom.