Aussie Reporter Shut Out of Trump Presser Days After President Scolded Network Editor

Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) journalists were denied access to President Donald Trump’s joint press conference with Prime Minister Keir Starmer just days after the president berated the network’s editor, John Lyons, over questions about his business interests.

ABC said Downing Street informed its London bureau that accreditation had been withdrawn for “logistical reasons,” adding: “We have been given no indication this is connected to the questions put to President Trump by ABC Americas editor John Lyons earlier this week.”

UK officials, eager to defuse suggestions of political pressure, insisted any link to Lyons’ exchange with Trump was “entirely untrue.” Sources said capacity was cut after the press conference was moved indoors, with 10 of 15 foreign journalists – including ABC – shunted into an overflow room.

Al Jazeera journalist Rory Challands told The Guardian that he too was dropped “for logistical reasons. The weather was mentioned.”

Still, the timing raises questions. On Tuesday, Lyons clashed with Trump during a press gaggle, asking whether it was “appropriate” that the president would engage in “so much business activity.”

In response, Trump exploded and berated Lyons: “In my opinion, you are hurting Australia very much right now. And they want to get along with me… I’m going to tell [Prime Minister Albanese] about you. You set a very bad tone.”

“Quiet,” he then told Lyons, as the reporter tried to follow up.

The Trump administration’s official X account later branded Lyons a “foreign fake news loser.”

ABC news director Justin Stevens stood by Lyons as the “most experienced and respected reporters in Australia” while Australia’s lawmakers also rallied behind him.

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