
Tempers flared in the Rose Garden of the White House on Thursday as an outspoken Playboy magazine writer nearly came to blows with conservative activist and former Donald Trump aide Sebastian Gorka.

The encounter happened in full view of more than 100 right-wing social media stars who were at the White House for a 'summit' focused on grievances against Twitter and Facebook.

A Secret Service agent ultimately intervened to separate the two men.

Playboy's White House correspondent Brian Karem, who doubles as a CNN political analyst, started the melee by telling the conservatives that they were 'a group of people that are eager for demonic possession.'

'You are a journalist, right?' Gorka shouted from across the lawn.

Taunt: Brian Karem, a CNN analyst and Playboy's White House correspondent, taunted conservatives and shouted at Sebastian Gorka in the Rose Garden after Trump admitted defeat on his bid to use the Census to ask about citizenship

Shouting back: Sebastian Gorka, a British-born former White House aide, steamed across the Rose Garden shouting at Karem

Getting angrier: Gorka, who now hosts a radio show, moved towards Karem through the Rose Garden which the president ha just left

Going head to head: Gorka approached Karem as members of the media, including NBC White House Correspondent Kelly O'Donnell (second right) watched

Shouting: Gorka screamed 'you're not a journalist, you're a punk.' Among those who saw it unfold were John Roberts, Fox News White House Correspondent (second right)

Secret Service move in: An agent restrained Karem as Gorka turned on his heel and walked off, to chants of 'Gorka! Gorka! Gorka!' from conservative activists

Out of here: Gorka stormed off as the Secret Service agent held back Brian Karem, who was behind a ropeline used to keep reporters from the main seating area

'Come on over here and talk to me, brother,' Karem responded. 'We can go outside and have a long conversation.'

Gorka baited him, announcing as reporters looked on that Karen was 'threatening me now in the White House! You're threatening me in the Rose Garden.'

Gorka - who has said he was once a part-time British soldier - steamed across the Rose Garden.

By now firmly in Karem's face, he boomed: 'You're a punk! You're not a journalist! You're a punk!'

'Go home!' Karem shot back. 'Hey Gorka! Get a job!'

WHO WAS AT TRUMP'S SOCIAL MEDIA SUMMIT Donald Trump Jr.: First son Kimberly Guilfoyle: Don Jr.'s girlfriend Ali Alexander: Blogger who tweeted about Kamala Harris 'She's not an American Black. Period.' which was retweeted then deleted by Don Jr. Diamond and Silk: Sisters and conservative vloggers Lynnette Hardaway and Rochelle Richardson Joy Villa: Scientologist former bondage model who wears pro-Trump dresses to red carpet events James O'Keefe: Founder of Project Veritas Lila Rose: Founder of Live Action, anti-abortion group Jim Hoft: Founder of the Gateway Pundit website Allen Estrin: Founder of Prager University which is not an academic institution; it produces conservative videos Becky Yeh: Marketing director, Prager University Lynne Patton: Trump family aide turned HUD political appointee Harmeet Dhillon: First Amendment attorney Mac Stoddard: Vice-president of marketing, libertarian activist group FreedomWorks Rogan O'Handley: Pro-Trump Instagram 'citizen journalist' who claims he was censored Austen Fletcher: YouTube vlogger Adam Radman: Americans for Tax Reform advocacy director Sebastian Gorka: British-born former Brietbart writer and briefly White House national security aide, now broadcaster Scott Presler: Runs activist group The Persistence 'Carpe Donktum': Makes viral videos and memes; declines to disclose actual identity 'Mad Liberals': Makes viral videos and memes; declines to disclose actual identity Zach Crandell: Works for CPAC and American Conservative Union Charlie Kirk: Founder, Turning Point USA Benny Johnson: Chief creative officer, Turning Point USA; fired from BuzzFeed for plagiarism Rob Bluey: Executive editor of The Daily Signal, the Heritage Foundation publication David J.. Harris Jr.: Author of Why I Couldn't Stay Silent: One Man's Battle As a Black Conservative Bill Mitchell: Host of YourVoice America; spread QAnon conspiracy theory Tim Pool: 'Citizen journalist' who accuses big tech of censorship Jim Hanson: President of Security Studies Group; former U.S. Army Special Forces Will Chamberlain: Publisher of Human Events Dan Bongino: Ex-Secret Service agent, radio broadcaster Brandon Tatum: Black conservative blogger Advertisement

The assembled activists shouted 'Gorka! Gorka! Gorka!' as Secret Service agents took positions near both men.

'Just for the record,' one social media influencer sniped, 'he'd kick your punk ass.'

Among those who captured it were Jim Hanson of the Security Studies Group.

Karem is best known for berating former White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders in a televised 2018 exchange about Trump's family separation policy at the border.

'You throw children in cages! You're a parent! You're a parent of young children!' he yelled, in footage that rocketed around the world. 'Don't you have any empathy for what they go through?'

On Thursday Karem appeared ready to explode again until a Secret Service agent intercepted him.

Another activist - Brandon Tatum, a black conservative blogger - jawed at Karem minutes later, saying he had 'threatened Gorka just a minute ago. You told him to go outside.'

'I told him I would talk to him,' the CNN personality responded. 'I said I would talk to him. I didn't threaten him. I'm standing right here! ... I didn't threaten to kick his butt.'

'Everybody knows what that means,' Tatum shot back. It's an embarrassment.'

'Yes you are,' Karem countered.

Gorka later said in a statement to right-wing news website the Daily Caller: 'Brian Karem is a washed up has-been who allegedly writes for a soft-porn magazine and who verbally abused Sarah Huckabee Sanders for years. Someone had to take him on.'

Trump has turned taunting reporters into a contact sport, decrying journalists as purveyors of 'fake news.'

The limited portion of Thursday's social media summit that was open to reporters included complaints that conservatives are purposely silenced on the larger digital platforms, giving mainstream reporters more room to run unchallenged.

Joy Villa, a Trump-backing media personality, blasted reporters before Thursday's argument heated up.

'We're citizen journalists,' she said. 'We respect you guys but you've got to stop reporting fake news.'

'None of us wants to do interviews with you guys. None of us wants to talk to you,' she said. 'The president doesn't want to. We don't need any of that.'

'Let us have our voice! We have an unbiased opinion,' she told Karem, who lectured her about 'legitimate journalism.'

'Verify your facts, and then you can call yourself a reporter,' he said.

As White House journalists were hustled out of the Rose Garden by White House press 'wranglers,' Gorka and Karem were seen arguing again at the doors to the Palm Room.

Gorka later posted on social media that he had been 'threatened.'

The near-brawl came after the conservative activists had first met for a summit on social media then been invited by Trump to watch his Rose Garden statement admitting defeat in his attempt to ask about citizenship status in the 2020 Census.

He had railed against social media in a freewheeling speech accusing Silicon Valley giants of suppressing right-of-center views.

Ironically, Twitter went out worldwide on Thursday as attendees gathered for the social media summit in the White House East Room - but came back up before remarks in which he accused the tech brand of making it intentionally difficult for people to follow him.

The summit was billed as an attempt to promote transparency and fairness. White House reporters were thrown out and the live stream cut when Trump started to take questions.

In a free-wheeling speech akin to his performances at campaign rallies, Trump praised conservative social media figures for 'the c**p you come up with,' got applause for calling the mainstream media 'fake news,' and bemoaned his own apparent difficulties with Twitter.

He invited bloggers Diamond and Silk up on stage to speak, hailed the work of Project Veritas director James O'Keefe who has caught Google executives on undercover camera appearing to confirm claims of anti-conservative bias - something disputed by Google - and was starting to take a question from a former adviser turned broadcaster Sebastian Gorka when the livestream was cut.

Aftermath: After Gorka had left, conservatives including Project Veritas director James O'Keefe spoke to Karem

Next up: Also speaking to Karem was Joy Villa, a bondage model turned singer-songwriter who wears pro-Trump dresses on red carpets

Stand-off: Joy Villa, a singer and conservative activist and Scientologist, argued with Karem about who was a real journalist after his confrontation with Gorka

According to the White House pool report: Karem and Villa talked over each other, arguing about opinion journalism. He told her that when he writes opinions, he labels them as such. ‘Do you verify the facts,’ she asked. ‘Label yourself as an opinion,’ he told her. She said, ‘You label yourself as an opinion.’ He told her, ‘I do! And when I write a feature, it’s labeled news. And when it’s a feature it’s labeled news. And when it’s an opinion, it’s labeled an opinion. That’s the difference.’

Center of attention: Brian Karem and Joy Villa argued in the Rose Garden

Still going: The argument between Joy Villa - a one-time bondage model - and Brian Karem, a CNN analyst, went on longer than the Sebastian Gorka confrontation

It's not over: As other reporters were hustled out Karen and Gorka resumed arguing at the doors to the Palm Room, which is off the Rose Garden

Finger pointing: The outcome of the final argument was unclear

In the course of the speech he claimed to be a victim of censorship himself.

'I lot of bad things are happening. I have people, they come up to me: "Sir, we want to follow you. They won't let us on,"' he claimed.

'And it was so different than it was, even six, seven months ago. I was picking up unbelievable amounts of people, and I'm hotter now than I was then. 'It used to take me a short number of days to pick up 100,000 people. I'm not complaining.

'We're like at 60-some-odd million. I was picking them up 100,000 people every very short period of time,' he said.

'Now it's, I would say, 10 times as long. And I notice things happening, when I put out something - a good one that people like, right? A good tweet - it goes up.

'It used to go up, it would say 7,000; 7,008; 7,017; 7,024; 7,032, 7,044, right? Now it goes 7,000; 7,008; 6,998. Then they go 7,009; 6,074. I said: "What's going on? It never did that before."'

The speech, to a friendly audience, resembled a performance at one of his rallies.

And he used it to make a new, incendiary charge against Democratic 2020 candidates: that they were pushing 'something worse than socialism, Communism,' and wanting to turn the U.S. into 'Venezuela.'

A source inside the room told DailyMail.com that duo Diamond and Silk spoke while the platform was down. So did House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy and GOP Rep. Dan Crenshaw.

Representatives from Twitter, Facebook and Google were not invited to the White House event that was overshadowed earlier in the week by a decision to invite, and then disinvite, a conservative political cartoonist accused of using an anti-Semitic trope.

Freewheeling: Trump delivered a rally-style speech to an invited audience of conservative social media figures

First son: Donald Trump Jr. and girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle were in the front of the East Room summit

Controversial figure: Ali Alexander, whose tweet questioning whether Kamala Harris is African-American was retweeted then deleted by Don Jr. was close to the first son

Roped in: Former bondage model turned Trump fan Joy Villa was praised for her outfits by the president. She turns up at showbusiness red carpets in pro-Trump dresses

East Room audience: The president's guests at the summit included (from left) Lila Rose, of anti-abortion group Live Action; YouTube vloggers Diamond and Silk; Kimberly Guilfoyle and her boyfriend Donald Trump Jr,.; and (right) White House counselor Kellyanne Conway

Honor: Trump invited Lynnette Hardaway (center) and Rochelle Richardson (right), known online as 'Diamond and Silk,' to the podium in the East Room

Raucous: Don Trump Jr. and girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle enjoyed a line from his father, the president

Transparency in action: Online British-born broadcaster Gorka, whose White House career ended after just over six months and who later got into shouting match in the Rose Garden, stood to ask a question - prompting the White House live stream to be cut before he had finished. Reporters were also escorted out of the room

Beginning and end: The summit went on despite Twitter going down and apparently continued after the White House cut the livestream

Trump said he'd be holding a separate meeting for them later in the month. 'they see the unfairness of what's happening,' he insisted in his remarks. 'Have a big meeting and a real conversation,' he said.

On Thursday, the president accused Twitter of engaging in a conspiracy to suppress his message and the number of followers he's getting.

He railed against the 'fake news media,' as well, claiming that CNN and other outlets are trying to silence his message. 'We're not going to be silenced,' he said.

Trump repeatedly insisted that it's a bipartisan issue.

'I am not speaking for our side. I don't even know if you're on our side,' he claimed, even though the guest list was carefully-curated. 'Big tech must not censor the voices of the American people.'

The White House itself was accused of censorship this week.

Graphic artist Ben Garrison said in a statement that he had a discussion with the White House 'and we came to the conclusion that my presence at the Social Media Summit would be a media distraction from the President's message.' Both parties decided Tuesday that he should not come, he writes.

'They were nice about it, but naturally, I'm disappointed,' he said, at first.

But Garrison says he was driven to defend himself after the White House told a news outlet that his invited had been 'rescinded,' violating the pact it had made not to discuss the situation.

'I was asked to remain silent about the whole thing. I said I would remain silent and I did remain silent,' he said. 'But then, overnight, they released a statement saying Ben Garrison will no longer be attending.'

He said the White House's conduct was 'disappointing,' as he'd been promised that Donald Trump's aides would be 'ignoring the entire thing.'

The new White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham listens as President Donald Trump speaks

Radio host Sebastian Gorka also attended the event before getting into a near brawl

'It is obvious to anyone with common sense, I am not anti-Semitic,' he said, blasting the Alliance Defense Fund for tarnishing his reputation by claiming that he is.

The White House had not released a statement at the time of Garrison's message, though. In fact, presidential aides repeatedly told DailyMail.com that they couldn't comment on the controversy.

Politico first reported that the cartoonist who'd posted a copy of his invitation to Twitter wasn't coming to the event anymore and cited a senior aide as the information source.

The article did not how the arrangement came to be, however, the piece's headline said Garrison's invite had been 'pulled' by the White House.

Sources familiar with the situation would not talk to DailyMail.com about what had happened, although the fact that Garrison was not coming was confirmed.

It wasn't until Garrison's public statement that the chain of events was fully known.