Embattled election attorney Sidney Powell reportedly banned a local newspaper from an event in South Dakota on Thursday after journalists refused to reveal their opinion of her or submit the story for her approval.
Rapid City Journal reported that it was invited to cover the event, which was being held by South Dakota Citizens for Liberty at the Rushmore Hotel.
Powell was expected to "speak about the progress with some of the lawsuits as well as reinstating Trump as president," the paper said.
But when reporters arrived at the event, Powell's public relations team demanded that they be allowed to pre-approve the newspaper's column before it was published. They also demanded to know the reporters' opinion of Powell.
The Journal reported:
“The only response I got to that was OK, thanks, and so we thought everything was fine, that we were set to cover it, and then when we showed up to cover the event, the organizers of the event told us we weren't welcome there as media," Bush said. “I don't know how else to categorize it, but we were forbidden, banned from covering the event."
The event was something Journal readers would be interested in reading about, Bush said, since Powell is a national figure. Powell's public relations manager told a Journal reporter and photographer they would not be allowed to cover the event unless they submitted the article for approval before publication. She also asked the journalists their opinion of Powell.
“We don't do that with news stories. I mean, that's not just a violation of policy, it's a violation of ethics. We're not a public relations firm, we're a news organization. We cover the story," Journal editor Kent Bush later told the paper.
