In response, it seems, the White House established a clear — if nearly impossible — standard: no credentials to any journalist who is not in the building on at least 90 out of the previous 180 days — in other words, seven of every 10 workdays. The White House wouldn’t provide numbers, but it appears most of the White House press corps didn’t qualify for credentials under the new standard, including regulars for The Post and the Associated Press. (Trump, who has spent more than 200 days at Trump properties and many more on travel, is barely in the White House this much himself.)<doc-sep>The White House is pushing back on a claim by Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank after he said the press pass he has held for more than two decades was revoked for “being a Trump critic.” “No one’s access is being limited,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sarah SandersTrump expected to resume rallies in June Andrew Giuliani planning run for New York governor Trump appears at Sarah Huckabee Sanders campaign event MORE Sanders said on Wednesday night in response a Milbank column published by the Post earlier in the day. ADVERTISEMENT The back-and-forth comes after the White House announced new rules regarding the number of reporters who are granted hard passes, which allows a reporter and camera crew to enter White House grounds without going through the process of having to request permission daily. Under the new rule, which has been implemented in the last few weeks after being announced in March, media members covering the White House can have their hard passes renewed if they have entered the grounds 50 percent or more of the time in the 180 days before renewal. Sanders cited security concerns as the reason behind the changes, saying the move was not an effort to limit access for journalists covering the administration. Milbank, who recently wrote Trump should be offered $10 billion in cash reparations in exchange for his retirement from office, says the revocation of his hard pass is "in line" with "threats to revoke to White House credentials of journalists the White House doesn't like." “The White House press office granted exceptions to the [others], but not to me,” he wrote. “I strongly suspect it’s because I’m a Trump critic. The move is perfectly in line with Trump’s banning of certain news organizations, including The Post, from his campaign events, and his threats to revoke White House credentials of journalists he doesn’t like.” No reporters that cover the White House on a daily, full-time basis have reported losing their hard pass as a result of the new rules put in place. Milbank acknowledges in his column the White House has instead offered him a six-month pass while sharing a White House press office tally that he had only been "in the building only seven times in the previous 180 days," which put him well below the new standards. The Hill has reached out the White House Correspondents' Association for comment.<doc-sep>It’s also not clear whether the White House is accurately counting the number of days that reporters enter the grounds. One journalist said she received an email notifying her that she had met the standard and that she had been granted renewal of her hard pass — despite the fact that she has been to the White House only a few times over the past year.<doc-sep>Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank just had his White House press credentials yanked and he says he is not the only one. According to Milbank, the loss of his credentials came as part of a larger purge in which the White House is “curtailing access for all journalists.” According to the seasoned journalist after 21 years of White House coverage, he found out he lost his credentials via an email. He also says the email was part of a larger crackdown. Milbank writes in an op-ed published by WaPo on Wednesday: I’m not the only one. It was part of a mass purge of “hard pass” holders after the White House implemented a new standard that designated as unqualified almost the entire White House press corps, including all six of The Post’s White House correspondents. White House officials then chose which journalists would be granted “exceptions.” It did this over objections from news organizations and the White House Correspondents’ Association. The columnist further recounts that WaPo was able to get “exceptions” for six of their impacted reporters. Milbank, though, was not so lucky and did not get his hard pass back. In his op-ed, Milbank further notes that as a result of the credentialing changes, many of those who have kept their hard passes are now working under “exceptions” from the states which he notes is a perilous position. Milbank explains: Now, virtually the entire White House press corps is credentialed under “exceptions,” which means, in a sense, that they all serve at the pleasure of press secretary Sarah Sanders because they all fail to meet credentialing requirements — and therefore, in theory, can have their credentials revoked any time they annoy Trump or his aides, like CNN’s Jim Acosta did. Prior to publication, Milbank reached out to the White House for comment about yanking his pass. Although he did not get a direct response, he did note that under the new rules, “exceptions” were now being granted only to senior journalists who regularly covered the White House or “special circumstances.” Those that did not make the cut — including Milbank — were those who did not meet the standard of being in the building for 90 of the last 180 days. They were instead offered a six-month pass, which Milbank stressed was not the same as the hard pass. [image via screengrab] Have a tip we should know? 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This image was removed due to legal reasons. After almost eliminating press conferences, the Trump administration’s campaign against journalists covering the White House has reached a new peak. On Wednesday, the administration revoked the hard passes of almost the entire White House press corps, the Washington Post reports. After telling all six Post reporters that their hard passes were revoked, the administration then said they’d take requests for “exceptions,” veteran White House journalist Dana Milbank writes. The exceptions were granted for all of the other Post journalists besides Milbank. From the Post: The White House press office granted exceptions to the other six, but not to me. I strongly suspect it’s because I’m a Trump critic. The move is perfectly in line with Trump’s banning of certain news organizations, including The Post, from his campaign events and his threats to revoke White House credentials of journalists he doesn’t like. White House officials provided me no comment for the record. Milbank points out that due to this change, nearly the entire press corps will be allowed to cover the White House only under these “exceptions,” which could be revoked at any time. After the White House revoked journalist Jim Acosta’s press pass last year, a Trump-appointed judge ordered that it be restored. The judge described the decision to revoke Acosta’s pass as “shrouded in mystery.” Now, the White House seems to have created a new standard that supposedly clears things up. In response, it seems, the White House established a clear — if nearly impossible — standard: no credentials to any journalist who is not in the building on at least 90 out of the previous 180 days — in other words, seven of every 10 workdays. The White House wouldn’t provide numbers, but it appears most of the White House press corps didn’t qualify for credentials under the new standard, including regulars for The Post and the Associated Press. As Milbank points out, the president is barely in the White House himself, and new White House policies around journalists have prevented many from attending events in recent months. That’s one reason many do not meet the high quota of days. Milbank also points out that this policy change could mean that some of these journalists will lose their income source. Though the culling properly eliminated some (including at The Post) who no longer needed credentials, the victims hurt most were freelance camera operators and technicians who now could lose their livelihood. Milbank and others who were not granted exceptions will now be given something called a six-month pass, which he says doesn’t offer the same access as a hard pass. Just another day in our increasingly authoritarian America!