Cerón writes: "On Tuesday, the Customs and Border Protection office apologized to a BuzzFeed News reporter who says he had been extensively questioned about his employer by a CBP officer at John F. Kennedy Airport."
Nick Sunderhaus, CBP Field Operations Academy branch chief, walks past a memorial remembering members of Homeland Security who died in the line of duty. (photo: Jesse Costa/WBUR)
CBP Apologizes for 'Grilling' BuzzFeed Employee About Trump Coverage
07 January 19
n Tuesday, the Customs and Border Protection office apologized to a BuzzFeed News reporter who says he had been extensively questioned about his employer by a CBP officer at John F. Kennedy Airport.
On Sunday, BuzzFeed News’ deputy director of Breaking News David Mack tweeted that he had been questioned by a CBP officer about BuzzFeed’s report that President Donald Trump told former lawyer Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about Trump Tower negotiations in Moscow; the administration denies the report, and Robert Mueller’s Office of Special Council issued a rare statement disputing “specific statements” as “not accurate.” BuzzFeed, however, stands by its story.
“He was 100% convinced Mueller had personally given a press conference calling us fake news, and I had to politely assure him that didn’t happen while also not wanting to piss him off any further,” Mack wrote in his thread. “There were literally dozens of people waiting and I shit you not, he was about to google the Mueller response to see if it was televised or at least grill me about it.” He was later admitted into the country.
the immigration agent at JFK just saw that i work for buzzfeed and just grilled me for 10 minutes about the cohen story which was fun given he gets to decide whether to let me back into the country
— David Mack (@davidmackau) February 4, 2019
he was 100% convinced mueller had personally given a press conference calling us fake news and i had to politely assure him that didn’t happen while also not wanting to piss him off any further
— David Mack (@davidmackau) February 4, 2019
anyway there were literally dozens of people waiting and i shit you not he was about to google the mueller response to see if it was televised or at least grill me about it
— David Mack (@davidmackau) February 4, 2019
he did ask me repeatedly what if anything the mueller inquiry has done and when i told him about the dozens of charges he said “but no collusion” and i said that’s true but pointed out that like a dozen russians had also been charged with meddling. he was nonplussed about that.
— David Mack (@davidmackau) February 4, 2019
According to the CBP’s website, international travelers entering the U.S. should expect questions about the nature of their trip, if they brought any goods into the U.S. with them, and the status of their citizenship. Mack is an Australian citizen; BuzzFeed News reports that he was returning from the U.K., where he had to renew his work visa.
In response, CBP called Mack to apologize. On Tuesday, CBP assistant commissioner for public affairs Andrew Meehan issued a statement reading: “On behalf of the agency, I would like to extend our apologies to Mr. David Mack for the inappropriate remarks made to him during his CBP processing upon his arrival to the United States. The officer’s comments do not reflect CBP’s commitment to integrity and professionalism of its workforce. In response to this incident, CBP immediately reviewed the event and has initiated the appropriate personnel inquiry and action.”
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