President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau participate in a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington on Feb. 13. | AP Photo Reporters turn on each other over Trump After president calls on two questioners who fail to ask about Flynn, reporters from other outlets cry foul.

Reporters expressed frustration with President Donald Trump and anger toward their fellow journalists after Trump managed to avoid addressing the question of the day at his Monday press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — the fate of his national security adviser, Michael Flynn.

At the afternoon briefing, Trump called on reporters from local Washington television outlet ABC 7 (owned by Sinclair Broadcasting) and The Daily Caller, a conservative news outlet. Most reporters were eager to ask about Flynn and whether he still has the confidence of the president after reports that Flynn had secret discussions with Russian officials and appears to have misled Vice President Mike Pence about those discussions. (Senior Counselor to the President, Kellyanne Conway, later said on MSNBC that General Flynn does enjoy the full confidence of the president, though White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer also told reporters the president is "evaluating the situation.")


But the reporters from ABC 7 and Daily Caller did not ask about Flynn. ABC 7 asked how Trump saw the relationship with Canada working out, and The Daily Caller asked what Trump considered the biggest national security concern.

Reporters from across the media spectrum reacted with shock and frustration.

"No questions about Flynn's status even though it is leading every newscast?? Are these planted questions on the Washington side?” tweeted national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin for Fox News.

"By handpicking reporters, Trump manages to get through news conference without being asked about Flynn,” tweeted New York Times reporter Peter Baker.

After the press conference some reporters approached the journalists who asked the questions to confront them about why they did not ask about Flynn and whether the White House had asked them not to.

AP reporter Julie Pace "asked me if the administration had told me beforehand not to ask about Mike Flynn, which they didn't. She was clearly agitated that I hadn't asked the question she wanted answered,” said Daily Caller White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins. “That idea is laughable to me. I found out [quite literally] a minute before the press conference that I would get a question.”

“I did ask her that. I and many other reporters were surprised that no one asked the president about Mike Flynn, the biggest story of the day,” Pace said in an email.

Collins said that while personnel questions are interesting, Daily Caller readers “want substance.”

“They want to know where the next war is going to be. Why would I even go to the press conference if we're all supposed to ask the same question?” she said.

ABC 7 reporter Scott Thuman said he was only advised by White House officials to attend the briefing, not that he’d get a question, and he did not share with them whether he was going to ask about Flynn, according to Yahoo News reporter Hunter Walker.

In a statement, Sinclair Broadcasting Group’s Vice Preident of News Scott Livingston said Thuman asked a question “on two issues that matter deeply to the local communities we serve: terrorism and international trade.“

“He works to go beyond inside the beltway chatter and get to the heart of the issues that are relevant to all Americans,” Livingston said. “The question wasn’t pre-set, screened nor suggested by the White House. We stand by Scott’s judgment and reporting.”

Others said it’s not surprising the administration chose the questioners carefully.

“White Houses have been calling on specific reporters they know won't grill them since time immemorial,” Marketplace reporter Lizzie O’Leary tweeted.

That’s true, but reporters covering Trump were already chafed by his decision to call on reporters for conservative-leaning outlets – Rupert Murdoch-owned New York Post and Fox News – during last week’s briefing with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The Daily Caller was co-founded by Tucker Carlson, who left the site last year and is now a conservative opinion host on Fox News, and Washington’s ABC 7 is owned by Sinclair Broadcasting, which has been criticized in the past for what some critics have called as too conservative-leaning programming.

This piece has been updated to correct what the ABC 7 reporter asked Trump.