Trump bans Amazon reporter Tara Palmeri from Mar-a-Lago election party despite Jeff Bezos kissing the ring

The Trump campaign threw a wrench into Amazon's first Election Night special with Brian Williams by excluding the reporter who was prepared to broadcast live from the former president's headquarters in Palm Beach.

Former ABC News White House correspondent Tara Palmeri, now senior political correspondent for Puck, was told at the last minute that she would not receive her credentials to cover the event.

Sources said Palmeri feared that Trump's senior campaign manager, Chris LaCivita, was upset with her coverage after she was initially denied entry to Trump's rally at Madison Square Garden in New York. She was let in after being recognized by staff, but producers of Amazon's election night became increasingly concerned that their plans for Palmeri to report from Trump's headquarters in Florida were going awry.

The former Playbook lead writer, described in her Puck profile as “Washington's most feared and fearless political reporter,” was initially told there was nothing to worry about.

But these fears were confirmed on Nov. 1 after the reporter tweeted about her latest story on Puck, writing, “NEW: The Trump campaign has paused its premature celebration and sweated it out as early voter numbers suggest more women than Men take part in the election. Win PA and staff pull out the briefcases for Lawfare. “You’re acting so crazy here.”

The answer from LaCivita on Xformerly known as Twitter, confirmed Palmeri's – and Amazon's – worst fears.

“Actually,” he wrote, “this bullshit tweet is the result of 'famous' gossip columnist @tarapalmeri being denied permission to enter Mar-a-largo to cover election night because of her 'penchant' for writing.” to report.” Bulls–t. Well, well.”

Palmeri argued that she had been covering the Trump campaign fairly impartially over the past year and needed to be sure she was allowed to attend the Mar-a-Lago event for the Amazon broadcast.

The election special's executive producer, Jonathan Wald, reportedly appealed to the Trump campaign to lift the ban, but to no avail.

It didn't seem to matter that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos refused to give in to criticism of his decision to ban editors The Washington Post from supporting Trump's opponent Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.

“She was told she had been taken to a no-fly zone,” a source said. “And once LaCivita made it public, there was no going back.”

Instead of covering the Trump event, Palmeri was sent to California to broadcast with Williams on set New York PostLydia Moynihan was sent to Florida.

Jon Kelly, editor-in-chief and co-founder of Puck, said in a statement: “The campaign's decision was obviously unfortunate, but the obstacle will in no way deter Tara or any of my partners from reporting our story rigorously and fiercely.” “

Attendees for the special were expected to include Douglas Brinkley, James Carville, Shepard Smith, Mike Murphy, Abby Huntsman, Erin Perrine, Erin McPike, Jessica Yellin, Axios' Hans Nichols and… The Washington Postis, among others, Jackie Alemany.

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