That Time Secret Service Walked NBC’s Katy Tur to Her Car

By A.J. Katz 

NBC News’ correspondent and indefatigable Donald Trump-tracker Katy Tur wrote a first-person piece published for Marie Claire detailing the trials and tribulations that come with having to cover the 2016 Republican presidential nominee.

“By Election Day, I’ll have lived out of a suitcase for a year and a half, swearing by the lifesaving powers of dry shampoo and the magic ability of scarves to make the same coat look new. Following Trump to city after city, I’ve made more than 3,800 live television appearances and visited more than 40 states. I’ve also endured a gazillion loops of Elton John’s ‘Tiny Dancer,’ a staple of Trump’s rallies.”

She also recalls intense moments, including name-calling from Trump, and “a wave of insults, harassment, and threats” on social media and from his supporters. Trump called her “Little Katy” in the middle of a rally in South Carolina, and has described her coverage as “disgraceful” and “not nice.”

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About their oft-bizarre dynamic:

“On June 6, during a spot on Fox & Friends, Trump described me as ‘not a very good reporter.’ A few weeks later, at his golf course in southwest Scotland, he introduced me to some investors as a ‘great reporter.’ He caught himself and added ‘sometimes.'”

While Trump has occasionally been civil towards Tur, it appears that she has experienced more than her fair share of conflict and scrutiny from his supporters:

“It’s unlikely, however, that any of Trump’s future attacks will be as scary as what happened in Mount Pleasant, where the crowd, feeding off Trump, seemed to turn on me like a large animal, angry and unchained. It wasn’t until hours later, when Secret Service took the extraordinary step of walking me to my car, that the incident sank in. The wave of insults, harassment, and threats, via various social-media feeds, hasn’t stopped since. Many of the attacks are unprintable.”

Through it all, she has established strong relationships with reporters who have been covering Trump for other outlets:

“We often help one another, putting aside corporate rivalries or the day-to-day of who’s scooping whom. If you miss a line of Trump’s speech, someone will fill you in. If you’re missing a charger or even the occasional contact, someone is always there with the assist. We depend on one another’s public reporting, using it to spur new lines of inquiry and fresh reporting of our own.”

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