White House Summons Top Journalists Before Obama's ISIS Speech

While preparing for his speech on the threat posed by Islamic State terrorists, the White House invited a few top writers to the White House to likely discuss the president’s foreign policy vision.

New York Times Columnist David Brooks, Gerald Seib, the Washington bureau chief of The Wall Street Journal, and The New Yorker‘s Dexter Filkins were among the group of journalists spotted entering the West Wing of the White House on Wednesday afternoon.

On Wednesday morning, the New York Times and the Washington Post revealed that Obama was prepared to act militarily in Syria to combat ISIS terrorists, citing senior administration officials. Obama’s speech is scheduled to air at 9:00 p.m. Wednesday evening.

The president frequently beckons select influential journalists to the White House to get its message out as seamlessly as possible.

In October 2013, Obama met with five conservative journalists during the government shutdown fight.

In November 2013, MSNBC hosts Ed Schultz and Lawrence O’Donnell, as well as then-Washington Post blogger Ezra Klein and Fox News’ Juan Williams, were invited to speak with Obama at the White House during the Obamacare website fiasco.