President-elect Trump leaves press pool behind to have steak dinner in NYC

Impact

President-elect Donald Trump left Trump Tower on Tuesday evening to dine out with his family at the 21 Club, a nearby restaurant. While this doesn't necessarily seem unusual — a president-elect going to dinner with family — the unprecedented part is that Trump left the press pool behind, the Associated Press reported.

According to the AP, pool reporters outside Trump's residence were surprised to see his motorcade pulling off, as they were told he would not be making any more moves for the day.

Trump's dinner with his children, including daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner, and his son Eric Trump — sans press — is a break from tradition, as presidents usually travel with a pool of journalists so the public has access to first-hand accounts of the president's activities and their "first comments on breaking news," the AP noted.

According to Jenna Johnson, a pool reporter for the Washington Post, Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks said she did not know Trump would be leaving and that she would "never do anything to leave the press in the dark." Hicks added that a protective pool had not yet been set up, but that once it is, journalists "will have all of the access they have ever had under any president."

Kathy Willens/AP