Journalists told they can no longer film interviews with senators unless they gain permission from rules committee and senator in question

An apparent attempt by a top Republican to hamper the ability of television reporters to ask questions of United States senators fizzled out on Tuesday.

In a directive that was communicated verbally to members of the Capitol Hill press corps on Tuesday morning, reporters were told they would no longer be able to film interviews with US senators without previously granted permission from the Senate rules committee as well as the senator whom reporters seek to interview. However, by Tuesday afternoon, a spokesperson for the Senate rules committee told the Guardian that rules for journalists had returned to the status quo from the past.

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Correspondents and senators were taken by surprise by the initial directive. Kasie Hunt of NBC News tweeted: “Reporters at Capitol have been told they are not allowed to film interviews with senators in hallways, contrary to years of precedent.”

Manu Raju, CNN’s senior congressional reporter, accused the rules committee on Twitter of “trying to SHUT DOWN press access in halls”, adding: “No more staking out hearings without permission. Not OK.”

The directive came down suddenly on Tuesday morning, hours before a major Senate hearing where the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, was set to testify, and as the Senate moves closer to hashing out its healthcare reform bill in closed door meetings.

Officials from the Senate press gallery were sent to verbally inform television reporters on Capitol Hill of the new restrictions and of the need to seek permission from the Senate rules committee. In a statement, Richard Shelby, an Alabama Republican, insisted this was simply an attempt to enforce existing policy.

“The rules committee has made no changes to the existing rules governing press coverage on the Senate side of the Capitol complex,” said Shelby. “The committee has been working with the various galleries to ensure compliance with existing rules in an effort to help provide a safe environment for members of Congress, the press corps, staff, and constituents as they travel from Senate offices to the Capitol. Once again, no additional restrictions have been put in place by the rules committee.”

In a recording obtained by the Guardian, Mike Mastrian, the head of the Senate press gallery, tells reporters: “This is what we have to do. In order to get an interview in the hallway, you have to call [phone number] and asked for David Adkins.” (Adkins is the chief counsel for the Senate rules committee.)



Sources indicated to the Guardian that the move was apparently a unilateral decision by Shelby, the 83-year-old chairman of the committee, made without any written documentation.

When asked by the Guardian about the rule changes, a spokesman for the Republican senator Ted Cruz, a member of the rules committee, said: “We were not aware of it until we saw on Twitter.”

Shelby was first elected as a Democrat in 1986 but switched party allegiance the day after Republicans took control of the Senate in 1994. Shelby is considered a stalwart ally of the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell.

The effort to limit press access met with bipartisan outrage. Republican Ben Sasse of Nebraska simply tweeted: “This is a bad idea.”

Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, tweeted: “Press access should never be restricted unfairly, particularly not when one party is trying to sneak a major bill through Congress.”

Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, tweeted: “Maybe not the right moment to lower the secrecy veil on Congress. To whoever is trying to protect Senators – we can fend for ourselves.” Brian Schatz of Hawaii described the measure as “cowardly and unilateral”.

The move comes after the Senate press gallery had warned reporters of congestion in corridors and moments last month when senators ran from journalists trying to put them on the spot for their views on the latest twist in the Trump-Russia investigation.



Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat and the vice-chair of the rules committee, said she had spoken to Shelby, who assured her that the incident this morning was a “staff inquiry” and not a change to long-honored reporting practices.

Later, she said: “There’s common practices for all rules, and the common practice here was that those kind of individual permissions were not required,” Klobuchar told reporters on Tuesday. “It was more global in how it was interpreted and that should continue.”