White House journalist April Ryan says she has bodyguards and Sarah Sanders ‘should pay for them’

'Since when is asking a question of a president making you a criminal? Or making you an "enemy of the people"?'

Veteran White House reporter April Ryan says she has bodyguards due to death threats and thinks press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to pay for them. (Paras Griffin/Getty Images for Essence)

White House reporter April Ryan has said she has had to employ bodyguards, laying the blame on Donald Trump's Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders after several fiery clashes between the pair.

The 21-year veteran newswoman has had to employ personal security since last year in the wake of numerous, repeated death threats and amid the president attacking sections of the media and calling outlets “fake news”.

“I’ve had craziness, so I have a real concern . . . Do I have a bodyguard? Yes, I do. Am I paying for it? Yes, I am," the Urban Radio Networks journalist and frequent CNN contributor told The Hollywood Reporter. "I think [Ms Sanders] should have to pay for it, especially if she’s stirring it up with her boss . . . I did not sign up for this. I was just doing a job.”

"All I'm going to say for my safety is: I have a team” of security, she added.

She and Ms Sanders’ relationship has been making headlines since the press secretary was promoted to her position on 26 July 2017 after the departure of Sean Spicer.

Ms Ryan has become known for what the Washington Post has characterised as a "pointed and relentless line of questioning” of Ms Sanders during White House briefings, as well as clashing with the president.

Some of the more memorable exchanges include when Ms Ryan asked Mr Trump “are you a racist?” in the wake of his reported comment about how immigrants from Haiti and more than 50 African nations come from “s***hole countries”.

She said the question landed her on the White House’s “blacklist” along with CNN’s Jim Acosta, another journalist the administration openly dislikes.

The pair have attempted to “reset” the relationship with a private dinner, with Ms Sanders even offering the journalist a slice of pie she baked during a Christmas soiree.

The efforts appeared to have been fruitless, as Ms Ryan said part of the blame for the threats made on her life still lies with Ms Sanders.

Ms Ryan also said the press secretary “should be ashamed of herself” for coming to the podium and spreading disinformation.

“She tries to insult my intelligence. And not just my intelligence, the world’s intelligence,” Ms Ryan said, adding Ms Sanders “continues to berate me”.

“Since when is asking a question of a president making you a criminal? Or making you an "enemy of the people"?,” Ms Ryan asked.

The comments about paying for the bodyguards come as Ms Ryan promotes a new book, Under Fire: Reporting From the Front Lines of the Trump White House, released next month.

The book details the challenges of reporting on an administration which consistently and sometimes vehemently attacks the press, to the point of the president’s supporters wearing t-shirts at political rallies that hint at lynching members of the media.

One shirt, which was pulled from Wal-Mart’s stores in November 2017, read: “Rope. Tree. Journalist. Some assembly required.”

Ms Ryan said she wrote the book because she is “a member of the press corps, one of the deans of the press corps now...and I've been under attack. And lied on. Treated terribly. And if I don't tell the story, you won't get it”.