Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, is facing criticism online after she reportedly had armed security guards remove The Atlantic staff writer Elaine Godfrey from her Senate campaign rally on Monday.
Godfrey reported that she was “thrown out” of Crockett’s rally after being labeled a “top-notch hater” by Crockett’s team.
“Right before armed guards escorted me from the rally and left me on the edge of a Texas-county road, I was informed that I was no longer welcome at an event that I had already attended,” Godfrey wrote on Thursday.
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She said she had spent about an hour at the Lubbock rally for Crockett’s Senate campaign before being approached by a woman with a badge after joining other reporters.
“‘Are you Elaine?’ she asked. I recognized her from the entrance of the event, where I had identified myself as she’d waved me into the building’s press area. Yes, I answered. ‘Her team has asked you to leave,’ she said. When I asked why, the staffer looked at her phone and read dutifully: ‘They just said, “Elaine from Atlantic, white girl with a hat and notepad. She’s interviewing people in the crowd. She’s a top-notch hater and will spin. She needs to leave,”’” Godfrey wrote.
Following the publication of Godfrey’s article, Crockett told CBS journalist Shawna Mizelle on Wednesday that there was “no evidence” the Atlantic reporter was kicked out of her campaign event. She added that it was “silly season” and suggested that Godfrey had previously been sued for defamation.
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In response to the congresswoman’s claim that there was a “specific journalist” at the event who has a “history of being less than truthful” and had previously lost a lawsuit against Crockett, The Atlantic reporter wrote: “Perhaps she was thinking of someone else, because that’s not something that has ever happened to me.”
Social media users were quick to criticize Crockett, questioning whether she was ready for “primetime” following the alleged incident.
“This is so bad by @JasmineForUS,” wrote former CNN journalist Chris Cillizza on X. “Not ready for primetime sort of stuff.”
Journalist Zaid Jilani similarly questioned “how in the world” Crockett expects to “win over enough Texans” if she “can’t get along with Atlantic magazine reporters,” many of whom, he noted, “vote Democrat.”
A pro-Democrat Mormon account on X argued that if Crockett “cannot handle questions from The Atlantic, and can’t do it without her staff calling the reporter a ‘white girl….top notch hater’ she will never survive the election.”
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“Amateur night in Texas from the entire Crockett team,” wrote another X user.
“Apparently, Jasmine Crockett has a problem with critical media,” wrote former Bulwark editor-in-chief Charlie Sykes.
This isn’t the first controversy stemming from Crockett’s reaction to Godfrey’s reporting about her.
Godfrey was the staff writer behind a profile piece for Crockett in July that reportedly received backlash from the Texas representative after including comments from fellow House Democrats “without telling her first.”
“She was, she told me, ‘shutting down the profile and revoking all permissions,’” Godfrey wrote at the time.
The piece was still published and included comments from other Democratic figures.
Crockett’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
