A senior writer at CQ Roll Call says he tried to talk to FCC Commissioner Michael O'Rielly after a news conference.
He was then pinned against a wall by two plainclothes security guards. The Washington Post reports:
After O’Rielly passed, the statement read, one of the guards asked why Donnelly hadn’t brought up his questions while the commissioner was at the podium. The guard then made him leave the building “under implied threat of force,” the statement read.
John M. Donnelly says he was trying to talk to O'Rielly after the news conference, which is standard practice for journalists.
O'Rielly saw what was happening, but walked past, Donnelly said.
Donnelly, who heads the Press Freedom Team at the National Press Club, said guards treated him like a criminal.
O'Rielly says he didn't see him:
As we have learned, intimidation of the press is one sign that a country is sliding toward authoritarianism.
