I was doing a lot of work. Sewing my seeds and the harvest came up. I was out there working and American Radio Networks recognized my work. They said, we may have a position open and i said okay. I thought it was for a dc bureau chief. Mind you, i had done local government. I even dabbled in washington. I anchored the weekends at wtop. But never in my wildest dreams would i imagine id be questioning american president s and they would call me by name. Well, at least three. But i did the work. And i started out local. Local being baltimore. My home, my love, being baltimore city. I came south and said lets try this. I thought id be there actually, i didnt want to stay when i first got here. I thought id stay for 23 years. Ive been here for 23. I started out being a reporter and i realized coming in what power was. Washington power was having a president call your name. The people who kept telling me i needed to have a president call me by name meaning the first president i covered, where people like how my brown. She said you need to get him to call you by name. I said oh my goodness. And my cousin, who is married to for congressman ed town. I did not understand the concept. After a while, i understood the concept of being a reporter with the president will call on by name. Not just call on, but by name. And it made a difference. People will take note of you. Ive been cornering bill clinton a couple times. This was before 9 11. A time when we were able to walk around the white house and run into a president more so than we do now. He was Walking Around with sourdough pretzel and he saw me and came into the press area. He talked to everyone and gave salutations. I said mr. President , im one of your newest reporters. Can you call on me by name . I will never forget then press secretary michael curry, the president keeps asking me why are you so hard on the issue on calling you by your name. I said thats my name and i want to call me by name. The first time he called on me he didnt. But the second time it changed. And it was a press conference with mubarak. 1997, you walk into the white house and you recount in the the presidency in black and white that you were ready to leave after three days. Why . Its a very different animal. When i say animal, it breeds. And theres a heartbeat to it. A whole different scenario. Hurry up and wait. Its a push for information. Its more than a designer. Its a need to get information to push information out to the public. Be it american or the world. The highest office in the land where everything comes to, war and peace and everything in between. Its a different type of beat. You hurry and wait. You wait for that one person or his principle. You feed on every word they say. Ive never seen anything like it. And never will again. The hill is a different beat. Youre running around looking for all types of congressional leaders, senators, speaker or congresspeople. But at the white house, its about that one person. And then filtering out from there. But one thing i will say, it was daunting. It was overwhelming. I was green. But one thing i will say is that the president i had to view him and the white house, this wonderful, historic place, as city hall. For me to take it and in chunks. It was the most interesting place ive ever been. But january 13 was actually my start date. We had been talking about the general 13th was the day. That i said okay, we are in here, everything was ready to go. And we started moving. Do you have an office at the white house . If thats what you call it. In my first book, people couldnt believe it. Its a small phone booth. Many of the young people dont understand what phone booth is and we have to liken it to what it looks like in london. But its the size of a phone booth. Maybe to put together. Claustrophobic need not apply. Thats where i call home at 6000 pennsylvania and its prime office space, believe it or not. People fight for that little room. Back to the presidency in black and white, you write that my appearance in the Briefing Room was a red flag for some folks. What do you mean . Back in 97, issues of race were on the table. To what the problem was is that in talking to bill clinton and all the president s i interviewed for this book, race has always been on the table. But the problem is, it doesnt always get asked about. By these reporters. We are talking about china, russia and so many cerebral policies and cerebral issues. And when you have issues of race, a lot of times, it doesnt lead until it bleeds. So i find that in the white house, race was always dealt with at a crescendo moment. And it was katrina, tremont martin or Something Like that. I was always asking issues of race beyond the crescendo moment. People would look at me, is she and milton . Does she have an agenda . I was covering stories for portions of america that is underserved and underreported. Thats how i came into the white house. People had a leery eye at first. When they realized some of these questions i was asking for real. This is not conjecture. This is real. They started saying wow. Its interesting now looking back 23 years later. My dear friend joy reed from msnbc, she said april ryan has made race issues and vote unpopular. Its unfortunate you know, that, thats the case. Black america, brown america, is part of america. Why shouldnt there be questions, especially if they have the highest numbers of negatives in every category. What is a you are m . Aurn . American urban radio networks. We primarily serve urban america with news and information particularly about them we are a heritage network. Meaning heritage, black media. And its undergoing changes like everyone else. I say when Mainstream Media has on life support. And thats the truth. As you see mainstream newspapers folding because of the internet. We are trying to find our way as well. Its harder for us because they will go to the Mainstream Media before they come to us. We have an audience that triedandtrue. When others will tell our story or ask about it, be well. And thats what we do. It was during the Obama Administration, here is an exchange. You write about this in your books. As an exchange what you had with then press secretary, robert gibbs. She came out, some may have called her the belle of the ball overshadowing the firstlady. First of all, ive never heard that. Its been bouncing around washington. Democratic as well as republican circles. April, thats not a station i live in and life. Are you done speaking . Oh yes, im done now. I have not heard the criticism. Ive not read any of that criticism. The president , the first lady and the entire white house staff aregrateful for the job she does. And thinks she has done a terrific and wonderful job pulling off a lot of big and important events at the white house. Was she a guess, did the president might her and thats a real question. Jonathan. Her name was on that list and social secretary are the ones who put the names on the list. April, down. When she and dennis . Take a deep breath for one second. Does the same thing. [laughter] dont play with me. Im being serious. Im giving you a serious answer. Or she get the dinner . Yes. Shes the primary secretary. Im going to get back to other topics like 98,000 men and women in afghanistan. Aprilryan, you were visibly uncomfortable watching that. [laughter] most definitely. Those moments, i guess i will see a lot of those moments that will makeme cringe. I said this was my life. It does make me cringe because that was an ugly moment. I will say this to you. Lets set the scene about that moment. The first black president became president. History was made but there were also at that time, a number of Death Threats on this president. Yall remember the story, and if you dont, lets bring our viewers and listeners up to speed on this. There was a state dinner with the leader of india. He had had Death Threats as well. And an assassination attempt just happened on him. We were talking about the state dinner. It was the first state dinner i believe. The social secretary at the time had not followed protocol that was followed prior to in other administrations. Mind you, i have been at this white house for two administrations prior to this. Id even been a guest and invited guest. At this time, president s were inviting the press to come in. For steak dinners. I do the protocol. What happens, the layer of protocol had been removed where the press office would be there and the secret service would be there to watch the list. In the meantime, as the protocol had been changed, there was a reality show going on at the same time. I believe the name was the they were on the show and they thought it was cute for the reality show what do you call it, crash the state dinner. Not only did they crash the state dinner but they got close to the Vice President , rahm emanuel. There were pictures of it. My concern was not the theatrics of it, my concern as a reporter im hearing from sources were very close to the situation. Sources outside of this white house were close to the situation. Sources from other administrations saying this should have never happened because of this historic nature of this president and the Death Threats. What robert gibbs was trying to do was show his loyalty to the then press secretary who ultimately left. Desiree rogers. The terms of that leaving, you can take it for whatever you want. But it was not pleasant from the way i understand it. And robert gibbs was trying to be loyal to her at the time. Lets fastforward from that room, about a year or two later after i wrote my first book. Mind you, that was tense. Robert and i really never got over that at that time. I saw him at a Major Tv Network in the green room. I let him see it and he read word for word. He apologized to me. He, robert gibbs told me himself, he said april, i had to make you look lazy to support her. I said but the social secretary says you didnt do her any favors. Ive seen her since then too. And she still angry with me. I saw her once in new jersey. New jersey is a hotbed for me i guess. She said, the ai said robert gibbs was trying to be loyalty you. He said he wasnt loyal to me. When robber apologized i said, desiree said you werent being loyal to her. He said let me tell you something, she rolled onto the bus and stayed there. The protocol wasnt followed. She was the social secretary who was different than the others. Being a part of the event. She wasnt watching the event. She had her own table in her own guests. But the issue was, the breach of security. The compromising of two men who are historic figures who have had Death Threats. And thats the whole issue. So robert was trying to be loyal to the van social secretary who is still in that circle. But ultimately, that circle was broken. She left. The terms of that leaving, let them talk about that. But the issue was about the historic nature of this president. The first black president was getting Death Threats and people artistry able to come in and get right there to him. Thats all that was. Since then, ive received an apology from robert gibbs. And i have talked to ms. Rogers. She came in her account of the event. But it was ugly, but at the end of the day ive even met ethan. He apologized. It was ugly. But because of that and because robert gibbs told me, i understood what the game was and how the game is played. And even though that was ugly, it showed me, without me knowing what was to come, the game board. When he said, april, calmed down. What was your immediate thought . He was making it personal. And he was waving me off. He was waving his hand point i said do not wave me off. Answer the question. He made it personal because he did not want to breach that loyalty. But at that moment, i was angry. And i will never forget, i wasnt angry until after it happened. I felt something third when youre in the midst of it as a reporter, youre still trying to get the answer to the question. But at the end of the press conference, press briefing, everyone laughed. I sat in that seat and stayed in that seat. I was angry. I will never forget bill burton, and says wants to see you in his office point i said for what . I was very upset. I sat there. I said im not going up there, for what . He acted like a fool to me. I have real questions that needed real answers. When i go to the press office, he proceeded to tell me i made a mockery of the process. I insulted the first lady. I said hi did i insult the first lady . He was bringing everything but the kitchen sink into the conversation. But at the end of the day, we agreed to disagree. He wanted an apology but he never apologized to me until after he left the white house. And told me what was the deal. I heard from him and mr. Rogers and others. But at the end of the day, it was an ugly moment but it taught me something. It taught me a lesson. It showed me the game. The game of politics. One of the chapters in your most recent book, under fire, is entitled becoming the story. Have you become the story in some cases . Oh my god. Too much so. I dont like being the story. I am a journalist thats so wideeyed about helping people. Im a journalist that looks at politics and also humanity, its about people. People who have a disease in their spirit who are still hurting. Who are in need of help. But now, instead of relaying that, its now im the story. Ive written books to talk about people. And intertwined my story in it. But if you read my books, the first two, its mostly about others because i want to tell others story. I dont want to talk about me is thats what a true reporter is. We are supposed to fade in the background. But the unfortunate thing is, with the climate, and i guess because i am that kid from baltimore west tried to overcome odds. Being from baltimore and i think about something, a pastor, pastor walter scott thomas. Elijah cummings pastor. He said you know, baltimoreans have an automatic word in their life story. Failure. The automatic is failure. But to overcome that, its about survival in baltimore. Im trying to ai survived and im here and im trying not to be the story. So now i am trying to survive in washington. And trying to survive in life. Because of the twists and turns that ive taken recently, im now in the story. You know what . Being the story sometimes has saved my life. If i dont tell that story, people will believe the false narrative. And people will believe that truth. If you read your books, tell me if im mistaken. If you read them in order to getting with the presidency in black and white, at mamas knee and then under fire. Your personal opinion is coming out for and more in your books. Right. The first book, we talked about the presidency in black and white. My view of now for president s. It was about the issue of reparations. And slavery apology. That was the time in washington. The second book, being a mother. And race and having it hit home in your backyard. Youre watching the news. I will never forget my youngest daughter grace, when isis was rampant. She would get scared and say mommy, are they here . I would say, no baby, youre fine. But when the freddie gray incident happened in baltimore, i had to talk to them about that. Ive asked president and people who deal with this about these issues. Then the last book, freedom of the press. And what ive gone through to make sure you understand that narrative, that lie thats been placed on me is not the case. I am not that person that you hear from on high that i am. We will go through all those in the next hour andahalf. Welcome to booktv and in depth with White House Correspondent april ryan. We will be taking your calls, getting your views. There are several ways for you to get through. First of all on the phone lines. 2027488200 if you leave in the east and central time zones and have a question or comment. 2027488201 for those of you in the mountain and pacific time zones. You can also text a message to 2027488903. If you going to text, make sure you get that number correct. We also have social media sites and we will scroll through those. Facebook, twitter, that you can also make a comment on. We will get to as many of those as possible. April ryan has been at the white house as a correspondent a long time. The only black female with a permanent pass at the white house. Covering black issues. Yes maam. Shes the author of three books. Beginning with the presidency in black and white, which came out in 2015. Followed by at mamas knee. And then under fire came out in 2017. Mostly about her time in the Trump Administration covering the Trump Administration and we will talk about all three of those. April ryan, again, becoming part of the story but unintentionally. Lets go to october 6, 2003 and show just a little video. The president has kindly agreed to take a couple questions and so have i. We will start with the american side an alternate back and forth. You are welcometo call on someone from your press corps. April you are not in his press corps. You are trying to play lecture in his press corps. I know but this is subversion. Okay, the worst thing you can do is be on cspan because you guys have everything. What i said in there and i said in my book. That was the most awkward moment. First of all, george w. Bush, i believe i had a decent work relationship with him. But also personally. And i was able to talk to him about matters of race. And i stood up. Because we had enough of a working relationship, i stood out like a sore thumb. So, that was a press conferenc. Did you put yourself over there on purpose . No i did not. His press did in hopes i would get called on. It was just off. And they made a mistake. The president noticed it. He noticed their mistake. His people trying to give him something. The American Press corps is like, whats going on . Im a member mark smith that worked at a few, they said what are you doing over there . I said, they put me over here. Yet the last known slave in my family i have no problem being considered african. But i am africanamerican and i was in the African Press corps. So there was a question ultimately. He couldnt help himself. President george w. Bush couldnt help himself at the time. Whats it like to be called out by the president at a press conference like that. You have to go with it. It can be ugly. Do you make a scene . No, your people did this. Or try to make light of it and move on. You are trying to fade in the background. How do fade in the background when you stick out like a sore thumb. What do you do . Do i stand up there and say no,. Youve got to pick your battles and learn how to fight another day. If i make a scene in any room. Im drawn out. And i can ask the questions necessary for certain communities. Has it been di