Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle confirmed that he and Breitbart News Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow attended a pre-State of the Union luncheon with network journalists on Tuesday.
During an interview on Steve Bannon’s War Room, Bannon asked if there was “any truth” to the rumors that Breitbart News was “in the broadcast anchors lunch” at the invitation of President Donald Trump. Boyle confirmed, and called the moment “historic.”
Boyle said there was a lot of “discussion about Iran” and what it would look like if the United States launched a potential strike against the regime. He also spoke about how there was discussion about “negotiations happening in Geneva” and confirmed reports that Trump “intends to push for more tax relief.”
“Yes, it is true,” Boyle responded. “Alex Marlow and I were there from Breitbart. We were the only two journalists in the room who do not work at a television network. Breitbart is many things, but we are not a television network. So, it was a historic moment.”
Boyle added that other outlets such as Newsmax and News Nation were at the luncheon as well.
Breitbart News White House Correspondent Nick Gilbertson reported that Trump had invited Marlow and Boyle “to partake in his gathering with the country’s most prominent anchors:”
The president invited Breitbart News’s Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow and Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle to partake in his gathering with the country’s most prominent anchors, which is a long-running tradition ahead of the prime-time presidential address before Congress. Breitbart News was the lone print outlet on hand. All others present were from television networks.
“Presidents of both parties have traditionally done this on the afternoon before they deliver a State of the Union address,” Boyle explained. “They host the nation’s top journalists and broadcast anchors for a lunch at the White House where they go through the speech. Oftentimes it’s entirely off the record, sometimes pieces of it will come out, and they’ll talk about issues of the day. It tends to be a very free-flowing discussion.”
In a post on X, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt expressed that Trump was proud to add new media to the guestlist of annual SOTU journalists’ luncheon.
“President Trump was proud to invite new media to the annual historic State of the Union network luncheon, including Breitbart, Newsmax and News Nation, all of whom deserve a seat at the highly coveted table,” Leavitt wrote.
