Saturday 14 May 2022 05:22 PM Jen Psaki chides frustrated reporter on her final day as White House press ... trends now

Outgoing White House press secretary Jen Psaki chided a reporter for an African news site after he repeatedly interrupted her and other journalists at her final press briefing on Friday.

Simon Ateba, who runs the website Today News Africa, repeatedly shouted 'will you take a question from the back of the room?' interrupting his press colleagues as well as Psaki.

Ateba first interrupted Associated Press reporter Zeke Miller, and then began shouting over ABC News reporter Mary Bruce as she tried to ask a question.

Bruce, her frustration evident, responded 'Simon, please stop,' but Ateba was undeterred and repeated his demands.

'If you can spread the questions from across the room and all of us at the back of the room,' shouted Ateba.

Psaki at this point intervened and said: 'Simon, if you could respect your colleagues and other media reporters in here, that would be greatly appreciated.'

'Go ahead, Mary,' she added, inviting the ABC reporter to proceed with a question about the nation baby formula shortage.

Though some among the White House press corps were irked by the disruption, One America News Network correspondent Chanel Rion shared a video of the incident and said that others shared Ateba's frustration.

Rion, whose channel does not have an assigned seat in the briefing room, said in a tweet that Psaki had never called on her outlet and only 'takes questions from a select few.'

Though Ateba is not the most prominent among the White House press corps, he has been called on by Psaki and other officials in the past.

In February, for instance, he asked Psaki about reports that she planned to take a job at MSNBC after leaving her White House post.

And at a briefing in March, Ateba took the lead in asking about the Biden administration's response to Will Smith's infamous slap of Chris Rock at the Oscars. 

White House Communications Director Kate

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