A New York Times photographer confronted the husband of press secretary Kayleigh McEnany about his not wearing a mask in the White House briefing room Wednesday.
Sean Gilmartin, a free-agent pitcher who played for the Tampa Bay Rays this season, was not wearing a mask throughout a 24-minute press conference.
At the end of the briefing, Mr. Gilmartin was told by Times photographer Doug Mills that his not-wearing a mask was against the rules, but Mr. Gilmartin did not comply.
According to the White House pool report, “a White House staffer who was with Gilmartin said incredulously, ‘Kayleigh’s husband?’”
Mr. Gilmartin and the staff member left the briefing room as Mr. Mills “restated the mask rules and said it doesn’t matter who [Mr. Gilmartin] is,” the pool report said.
According to Steven Portnoy, a CBS News Radio reporter who also is vice president of the White House Correspondents Association, Ms. McEnany “brought six aides and a guest into the briefing room. None of them wore masks.”
The WHCA requires that masks be worn in all shared White House press areas.
WHCA President Zeke Miller, a reporter for the Associated Press, told Politico that the organization “has repeatedly encouraged everyone in the press areas to wear masks at all [times], including with signage and frequent reminders that failing to do so puts themselves and others around them at greater risk.”
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.