Cops Called on NYT Reporter Outside Tom Kean Jr. Fundraiser While Fox News Got In

A New York Times reporter got turned away from a Republican congressman's fundraiser Friday, then had police called on her for waiting in the parking lot. Two other reporters got in the door just fine.

Tracey Tully, who has covered New Jersey for the Times for 20 years, showed up at the Hawk Pointe Golf Club in Washington Township for a breakfast fundraiser featuring Rep. Tom Kean Jr. and House Speaker Mike Johnson. Kean spokesman Harrison Neely told her the event was private and turned her away, according to the Times' reporting as relayed by The Independent and The Daily Beast.

Fox News reporter Liz Elkind got in. So did a reporter from Allentown, Pennsylvania station WFMZ, which later interviewed Kean on camera, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. Only the Times reporter was blocked.

Tully waited in the parking lot hoping to catch Kean or Johnson on the way out. That's when a Washington Township police officer showed up. Someone inside had called and reported her as a trespasser.

Sergeant Dallas Overko responded and, by his own account, was surprised at what he found. "I didn't know it was just a nice little reporter waiting for an interview," he told Tully, adding "there were some things lost in communication," according to the Times' account cited by The Independent and The Daily Beast. It's still not known who inside the event made the call or why. Overko told Tully she could stay put in the lot.

Kean's absence, explained after the fact

The fundraiser was Kean's first known campaign stop since returning to Congress on June 30 after missing 116 days and roughly 140 votes, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. He told the House floor in June that he'd been hospitalized and was being treated for depression. He gave few details before that, and his office fielded months of questions with little public explanation.

At the fundraiser, Kean told WFMZ he's "feeling great" and "stronger than ever," and said he'd been "helping people throughout the entirety of the year" despite the absence.

Kean represents New Jersey's 7th District, one of the most competitive House seats in the country and a race that could help decide whether Johnson keeps his majority after November. President Trump endorsed Kean in June while he was still absent, posting on Truth Social, "GET OUT AND VOTE FOR TOM — HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!"

Kean has a track record of avoiding reporters. The Daily Beast notes he's held no in-person town halls in two terms and routinely declines questions from reporters in the Capitol.

Even Johnson thought Kean should've said more, sooner

Tully didn't get her interview with Kean. She did catch Johnson leaving the event, and he didn't exactly defend Kean's silence.

"You know, if it were me, I would have done it a little sooner," Johnson said of Kean's disclosure, according to the Times' reporting picked up by The Independent and The Daily Beast. Johnson added that "what he was dealing with affects many millions of Americans, so I think people understand that," and said he encourages Republicans to be transparent with the media, while noting campaigns handle things their own way.

Kean's Democratic opponent, Rebecca Bennett, a former Navy pilot and healthcare executive, didn't hold back. "Tom Kean Jr. is doing what he's always done: serving his D.C. party bosses and prioritizing his stock portfolio while hiding from anyone who wants to hold him accountable, whether that's the press or his constituents," she said in a statement to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Kean fired back on social media, claiming he does "the most local press engagements of any NJ Member of Congress" and accusing Bennett of hiding "behind a campaign script." His office did not respond to requests for comment from the Inquirer or from The Independent.

What this is and isn't

Barring one outlet while letting in Fox News and a local TV station is a legitimate story about selective press access. Calling the cops on a reporter sitting in a parking lot is a genuine overreaction that a campaign official should answer for. Nobody has explained who made that call or why.

This was a private campaign fundraiser at a golf club, not a government press conference, and campaigns are generally free to control access to private events. That's different from a president or agency blocking a wire service from covering an official public function, which has drawn legitimate First Amendment scrutiny in other cases. Kean choosing to shut out one paper while granting access to others still looks like he's picking friendly coverage over accountability, especially after months of stonewalling questions about a 116-day absence voters were owed an explanation for.

Separately, the Times itself is dealing with its own credibility questions. On Aug. 20, a jury ruled against the paper in a defamation case brought by Kai Spears, a former University of Alabama basketball player the Times had falsely placed at the scene of a 2023 fatal shooting, according to the Epoch Times. It was reportedly the paper's first defamation loss in more than 50 years. That case has no connection to the Kean story, but it lands in the same news cycle as a reminder that press credibility cuts in more than one direction.

Kean's office still hasn't answered why the Times reporter was singled out or who called police. Voters in the 7th District get to decide in November whether his handling of both the depression disclosure and the press access looks like privacy or evasion.