National Press Club Denies Membership to White House Correspondent

Natalie Winters, a White House correspondent and co-host of Steve Bannon’s War Room: Battleground, was recently denied membership to the National Press Club. It could be over her ties to Steve Bannon or her sexy attire. It could also be over her reporting on the National Press Club’s partnering with the Chinese Communist Confucius Institutes.

Winters posted the denial to x:

“Our membership committee and Board of Governors reviewed your application. Unfortunately, you do not meet the qualifications for membership at this time,” Winters was told in the email.

“Thank you for your interest in the National Press Club.”

Winters wrote on X that she was denied despite being the “host of one of the largest shows on the right.” She also noted that elected officials, including President Trump, cited her work.

The NY Post suggests it’s her sexy attire.

“The National Press Club should formally change their name to the National Propaganda Club,” Winters told The Post in a statement.

A spokesperson for the National Press Club released a statement to The Post, which read:

“The National Press Club has a long-standing process for reviewing membership applications. Decisions are made in alignment with the standards of journalism we uphold.”

“We do not publicly comment on individual applications out of respect for all involved.”

THE NATIONAL PRESS CLUB MIGHT NOT LIKE HER REPORTING ABOUT THEM

Ms. Winters reported that the National Press Club partnered with the Confucius Institute U.S. Center. As she wrote, they are a designated foreign mission of the Chinese Communist Party.

The Institutes are accused of intellectual theft and espionage.

The State Department statement about the designation:

Confucius Institutes are clearly sponsored by Beijing: Confucius Institutes (CIs) are organizations primarily located on U.S. college and university campuses that push out skewed Chinese language and cultural training for U.S. students as part of Beijing’s multifaceted propaganda efforts. The PRC government partially funds these programs under guidance from the CCP’s United Front Work Department. On August 13, 2020, the Department of State designated the Confucius Institute U.S. Center (CIUS), which serves as the Washington D.C.-based de facto headquarters of the Confucius Institute network, as a foreign mission of the People’s Republic of China. The opacity of this organization and its state-directed nature are the driving reasons behind this designation.

…

Beijing’s influence on U.S. campuses: The influence of the Chinese government and impact of Chinese Communist Party ideology on Confucius Institute programming has long been a cause for concern on U.S. campuses, as has the governing arrangements of individual Confucius Institutes which often lack transparency. Confucius Institutes “are an important part of China’s overseas propaganda setup,” said Politburo Standing Committee ideology czar Li Changchun in 2009.

The Center promotes its influence on college campuses. Despite this, the National Press Club hosts an annual gala in Washington, D.C. [Thanks to its status as an NGO, Confucius Institutes profit off the US taxpayer. “Confucius Institute US Center” IRS Form 990. 2017. Accessed April 10, 2020.]

The Institutes recently rebranded to circumvent U.S. policy.

“Five years ago, with Outsourced to China, NAS detailed how the Chinese government uses Confucius Institutes as central nodes in its overseas influence campaign,” said Rachelle Peterson, senior research fellow at NAS and coauthor of After Confucius Institutes. “Now, we show that despite the demise of Confucius Institutes, colleges and universities have naively signed up for very similar programs under new names.”

“The Chinese government has executed an end-run of U.S. public policy,” said Ian Oxnevad, a program research associate at NAS and coauthor of After Confucius Institutes. “In the wake of laws targeting Confucius Institutes, the Chinese government has deftly reorganized its program.”

In 2018, the Confucius Institute US Center sponsored an event at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, on the “future of educational exchanges between China and the U.S.” They decided to change their image. According to the National Association of Scholars, they only cleverly rebranded the same Maoist ideology. And they did it at the Nationa Press Club event.

The Institutes are Trojan horses. Although these Institutes have reopened under new names, the National Press Club still partners up with them.

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