Gannon in Editor and Publisher

Here's the Editor and Publisher interview with Gannon. Two paragraphs that deal with getting into the White House briefing room:

"I requested clearance each day via an e-mail to the White House Press office the night before. I gave them my professional name, my legal name, my social security number, my address and phone number, and the news service where I worked," he said. "I assumed that there was some kind of cursory check that they do, but did not know what. They never asked me for more information." He said he usually went to press briefings there “at least once a week," or more.

On those days, he said, "I would go to the guard gate and show my driver's license with my legal name, and they looked me up on the computer and let me in." He said he would receive a day pass, which has no name -- Gannon or Guckert -- on it. He said he sought the permanent "hard pass" when he first wanted to cover the White House, but after finding out he needed a congressional press pass -- which he’d been denied -- to get that far, he utilized only the day passes. “I made several attempts to get a congressional pass, and each time they said 'no.' They were concerned with the Talon News business model,” he said. “They didn't feel that we fit the criteria."

That's encouraging. But anyway, it's unclear whether Editor and Publisher double-checked his assertion about day passes. They google-checked the websites for which he claimed to've written op-ed pieces and found nothing. It would be interesting to find out if day passes do not indeed have names on them. So how did Scott McClellan know to call him Jeff? This isn't an answer, but it's at least interesting that Gannon was invited to White House Christmas parties.