Today News Africa’s chief White House correspondent Simon Ateba said he was worried the White House may attempt to kill him.
Ateba’s comments follow a contentious Monday exchange with White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
The Today News Africa reporter revealed his fear in an interview with the Daily Caller‘s editorial director Vince Coglianese
“I don’t know if I’m safe, I don’t know if they’ll kill me,” Ateba said. “I don’t know what they will do next. They’re trying to keep me out of the briefing room. I don’t know how far they will go to silence me.”
“Maybe they’ll hack my phone, maybe they’ll hack my laptop. Maybe they’ve done things I’m not really aware of,” Ateba continued. “But for them to do that, or to even appear to do that, to try to edit me and cancel me and silence me, it’s maybe the beginning of something really ugly, and I just want people to keep praying for me.”
Simon Ateba is worried the White House may assassinate him…
Simon Ateba Says He’s Unsure Whether The White House Will Assassinate Him https://t.co/YDxFx94W9G via @dailycaller
— Nicole Silverio (@NicoleMSilverio) June 28, 2023
“Keep praying for me. I don’t know what will happen to me tomorrow.”
Ateba has gained prominence with White House correspondents for sparring with Jean-Pierre and former White House press secretary Jen Psaki, claiming they have avoided his questions including inquiries regarding COVID-19.
During the Monday exchange, Jean-Pierre said the Biden administration was “committed to freedom of the press,” to which Ateba accused Jean-Pierre of refusing to call on him for several months.
“You’ve been discriminating against me for the past nine months,” he told Jean-Pierre, spurring another reporter to contest the Today News Africa Reporter.
“She called on you, she gave you a few questions,” Ateba told the fellow reporter. “Please, allow me to do my job and ask my question.”
Jean-Pierre attempted to call on another reporter, though Ateba continued protesting the press secretary.
“If this continues, we’re gonna end the press briefing,” Jean-Pierre threatened. “You’re being incredibly rude. … You’re talking over your colleagues.”
The White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) previously threatened to suspend or expel Ateba after interjecting over a fellow reporter’s question during Psaki’s final press briefing in May 2022.
“America is the greatest country in the world and no country comes even close. Here in the United States, press freedom is respected, or so I thought, or so I was made to believe,” Ateba told the Daily Caller following the WHCA’s threat to suspend or expel him. “I have sacrificed everything for journalism.”
He continued:
I have done no other job across various continents. I have been arrested, detained, accused of being a spy for Boko Haram while doing an investigative report on Nigerian refugees in Chad and Cameroon. I have been attacked by pirates on the Gulf of Guinea, kidnapped from a car in Lagos, dumped in the woods and left for dead. Am I not worth asking a question at least once a month? Am I not being in the room when President Biden receives President Kenyatta of Kenya? Am I less? Is that what press freedom is?
Ateba has reportedly threatened to sue Jean-Pierre over alleged discrimination during press briefings.
