WASHINGTON — The White House Correspondents' Association said on Thursday (June 27) CNN has rejected multiple requests to include White House pool reporters inside the studio during the first presidential debate between incumbent Joe Biden and Republican rival Donald Trump.

The press pool, made up of representatives of major news organisations including Reuters, accompanies the president on foreign and domestic trips and normally has access to any event where he speaks or appears in public, with the goal of keeping the US public informed.

It is extremely rare for them to be barred from an event in the United States.

"WHCA is deeply concerned that CNN has rejected our repeated requests to include the White House travel pool inside the studio," Kelly O'Donnell, president of the White House Correspondents' Association, said in a statement.

"The pool is there for the 'what ifs?' in a world where the unexpected does happen," she said, and to provide "context and insight by direct observation and not through the lens of the television production," she said.

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