Virginia's GOP chairman backed White House press secretary Sean Spicer's decision to block a number of news outlets from a question-and-answer session on Friday.

"Good job @seanspicer. Why would we let media who hate us have access to @POTUS? Time to take a stand," read a tweet by John Whitbeck, chairman of the Virginia Republican Party since 2015.

Good job @seanspicer. Why would we let media who hate us have access to @POTUS? Time to take a stand. https://t.co/8vJE2xENNI — John Whitbeck (@JohnWhitbeck) February 24, 2017

ADVERTISEMENT

The show of support comes after Spicer decided to hold an off-camera gaggle with reporters in his office instead of an on-camera briefing in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room.



CNN, The Hill, The New York Times, Politico, the Daily Mail, BuzzFeed, the BBC, the Los Angeles Times and the New York Daily News were among publications and outlets not permitted to attend.

Reporters from several conservative outlets were allowed into Spicer’s office, including Breitbart, the Washington Times and One America News Network. ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, Reuters, Bloomberg and McClatchy were also allowed to attend.

President Trump again devoted considerable time to slamming the media during his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Md., earlier Friday.

"I want you all to know that we are fighting the fake news. It’s phony, fake,” Trump declared.



“I called the fake news the enemy of the people. They are the enemy of the people, because they have no sources. They just make them up when there are none.”

CNN said the administration's decision to hand-pick news outlets was "unacceptable."

CNN was blocked from WH @PressSec's media gaggle today. This is our response: pic.twitter.com/8SfY2uYKEI — CNN Communications (@CNNPR) February 24, 2017

New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet also criticized at Spicer's decision. “Nothing like this has ever happened at the White House in our long history of covering multiple administrations of different parties,” Baquet said in a statement.



“We strongly protest the exclusion of The New York Times and the other news organizations. Free media access to a transparent government is obviously of crucial national interest.” “Nothing like this has ever happened at the White House in our long history of covering multiple administrations of different parties,” Baquet said in a statement.“We strongly protest the exclusion of The New York Times and the other news organizations. Free media access to a transparent government is obviously of crucial national interest.”

The Associated Press and Time, although invited to the gaggle, refused the offer in protest.