Expulsion of press from public proceedings
Public proceedings — White House briefings, agency press conferences, court hearings, legislative committee meetings — are presumptively open to the credentialed press. Expulsion of specific journalists or outlets from these proceedings, on the basis of their coverage, is a form of access control deployed to chastise. Concrete forms include credentials revoked without cause, individual reporters barred from briefings while peers are admitted, and broad outlet-level expulsions framed as "security" or "space" decisions. Legitimate credentialing standards applied evenly are not expulsion; expulsion is what happens when the standards bend around the coverage.
Documented entries (1)
2026
Rep. Omar's silent State of the Union guest forcibly removed, injured, and charged
During President Trump's State of the Union address on February 24, 2026, Aliya Rahman — a Minneapolis software engineer attending as Rep. Ilhan Omar's invited guest — stood silently in the House gallery and was forcibly removed by U.S. Capitol Police after declining to sit. Rahman, who had disclosed injured shoulders and is autistic with a traumatic brain injury, was aggressively handled, required treatment at George Washington University Hospital, and was booked and charged with "Unlawful Conduct," a misdemeanor carrying up to six months. Rep. Omar condemned the response as a heavy-handed, chilling reaction to peaceful expression and demanded a full explanation.