Arrested reporter: ‘I was just trying to do my job’

A reporter who was arrested at the West Virginia State Capitol says he was just trying to ask Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price a question about healthcare legislation.

“I was just trying to do my job,” Public News Service reporter Dan Heyman told CNN on Thursday.

“I think that they really didn’t need to do that. I mean, they could have told me to back off, to go away. … I would have been perfectly happy to do that. They didn’t need to arrest me,” he added.

{mosads}Heyman said he did not mean to invade Price’s personal space, arguing he simply wanted to get his phone close enough to get a clear recording of anything Price said.

“I was certainly trying to get my phone close enough … to be able to get a decent recording if he said anything,” the reporter said.

“That was all I really wanted, was an answer to my question, and I wasn’t trying to get into anyone’s personal space.”

Heyman said earlier this week that he was arrested after repeatedly asking Price whether domestic violence is considered a pre-existing condition under the new GOP healthcare bill.

Heyman said that in one instance he was “probably too close to Kellyanne Conway” because he “didn’t realize she was there.”

“I just assumed that Secretary Price was there and everyone else was staff. I didn’t know that she was on the trip. … I didn’t want to get into her personal space either,” he said.