Fox Reporter Explains ‘Angry’ White House Press Briefing Walkout

Fox’s White House reporter Ed Henry seemingly stormed out of a press briefing last week, causing some observers to wonder whether this was just an extreme chapter in his storied conflict with Press Secretary Jay Carney.

Nope, Henry was just going to be late.

On the Kilmeade & Friends radio show Monday morning, Henry said that his “walk out” was not out of anger and not meant to be taken as a protest of any kind. He said that he was overlooked twice for question and just had to run to make a lvie appearance for the network.

“What happened Friday? It looked like you got fed up and said, ‘To heck with this,’ he’s not calling on you,” Brian Kilmeade asked Henry.

“Nah, that’s not it,” he replied. “What really happened was that the briefing went on for about 40 minutes and I didn’t get a question. For whatever reason. I guess Jay Carney will have to answer that. I don’t know why, I guess, maybe he was upset. I wasn’t.”

Henry went on to say that the briefing started about three hours late, and that he waited until the last few minutes before leaving. He was cutting it close for an appearance onThe Five.

“I was going to be late. I would have stayed longer if Jay had called on me. But he didn’t. I had work to do,” he said.

Henry wasn’t the only walk-out that day, either. NBC’s Chuck Todd left after his question was answered.

“I don’t hear anyone saying, ‘Oh my God, he staged a protest.’ No, he had to go file a piece for NBC’s Nightly News, just as I had to go do a live hit with you on The Five, and I had to file my piece for Bret Baier and Special Report.”

Henry also dismissed any enmity between himself and Carney, saying that he’s sure the Press Sec. will throw him a question or two at the next briefing.