Mark Schiefelbein/Reuters
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Saturday dismissed concerns over his decision not to let a pool reporter travel with him on his trip to Asia, saying he’s simply “not a big media press access person.” “I personally don’t need it. … When we’re ready to talk about what we’re trying to do, I will be available to talk to people. But doing daily availability, I don’t have this appetite or hunger to be that,” Tillerson told reporter Erin McPike of the right-wing Independent Journal Review – the only journalist allowed to go on the trip with Tillerson. The State Department came under fire for selecting McPike to go on the trip, rather than following tradition and allowing a pool reporter to go. “When I have something important and useful to say, I know where everybody is and I know how to go out there and say it,” Tillerson said. He also said taking fewer reporters with him means the plane “flies faster, allows me to be more efficient,” and noted that there’s plenty of media in the places he’s going to get the story out.