The hotel’s decision to ban media from property owned by the federal government and from a hotel controlled by the president-elect comes amid a broader debate over media access to the incoming administration. | Getty Trump's D.C. hotel bans press during inauguration week

The Trump International Hotel in Washington is banning the media from its premises during inauguration week.

“Media is not allowed in this week in respect of the privacy of our guests,” Patricia Tang, the hotel’s director of sales and marketing wrote in an email.

A POLITICO reporter attempted to enter the hotel Wednesday morning for a previously scheduled breakfast meeting but was stopped at the door. He then identified himself as a journalist and was told “media” was not allowed.

President-elect Donald Trump and his three adult children own the project after winning a 2012 bid to redevelop D.C.’s Old Post Office. They have a 60-year lease with the federal General Services Administration, which owns the property. The lease that the GSA signed with Trump says (on page 30) that the public is allowed to access historic sections of the building "subject to such reasonable rules and time restrictions as Tenant may formulate from time to time and as approved in writing by Landlord" unless there is a "risk to public safety."

The hotel’s decision to ban media from property owned by the federal government and from a hotel controlled by the president-elect comes amid a broader debate over media access to the incoming administration. Trump has resisted forming a protective pool around him, instead opting for a “semi-protective pool” that afford the media less access than previous presidents allowed.

Further, D.C. legal code prohibits public places like hotels from denying “the full and equal enjoyment” of its facilities to people based on “source of income,” among other reasons, calling it an “unlawful discriminatory practice.” “Source of income” could reasonably include one’s occupation as a journalist.

Tang did not immediately reply to an email asking whether the hotel was in violation of this part of the lease by barring media. The GSA did not immediately reply for a request for comment.

On Wednesday morning, the hotel was encircled by metal barricades while police officers stood nearby and a firetruck and ambulance lingered outside on Pennsylvania Avenue. An official-looking black car with red and blue lights was also seen entering the hotel driveway followed by a black SUV with flashing red lights.

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