The UMD student reporter who dared to record Rep. Andy Harris — and kept recording

A University of Maryland student journalist targeted by U.S. Rep. Andy Harris during an informal press briefing Tuesday said she’ll continue to cover the Republican politician who threatened to have police remove her from the room.

Cat Murphy, a graduate student at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism and a reporter for the student newswire Capital News Service, appeared on CNN Wednesday to recount a post-debate clash that has gone viral on social media and been broadcast on national news.

CNN anchor Jake Tapper asked Murphy, 22, how she had processed the exchange one day later.

“It has been a lot,” she said. “But I was focused on doing my job and asking my questions that I wanted answers to. And I think I did that.”

Harris’ attempt to eject Murphy from the media availability to which she was invited, along with other members of the press, mirrors President Donald Trump’s embattled relationship with reporters.

Tensions ran high during a League of Women Voters forum in Cambridge on Tuesday night between Harris and Democrat Dan Schwartz, and they spilled over into Harris’ post-debate news conference. That’s when words between Harris and multiple reporters came to a head. Harris shooed away questions from reporters that he said were “silly” and “stupid.”

Harris lashed out at Murphy after she asked him to respect the press. He demanded she stop recording the briefing and wrongly said that Maryland’s wiretap law gave him the right to singularly deny her the ability to record him.

The law does not apply to public conversations, such as a post-debate press conference.

Murphy refused and kept recording, and Harris’ behavior devolved.

He threatened to refer her to a prosecutor, asked his security to take her phone away and told them to get police to escort her out.

Murphy pressed Harris for answers on his stance on the Iran War.

Before storming out of the room, the congressman told reporters to blame Murphy for his abrupt departure.

The incident sparked condemnation of Harris’ behavior from the region’s press advocacy organizations.

A statement from the Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Association said Harris’ interpretation of Maryland’s two-party consent rule is wrong.

Executive Director Rebecca Snyder offered to work with Harris’ office to ensure that he understood the law.

“Harris has been in that position many times before, with journalists recording him as they report his comments. He should know better, and if he doesn’t, he should learn,” Snyder said in the statement.

“When you’re speaking to the press publicly, you don’t get to pick and choose who is recording you,” said U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat and constitutional law professor. “But he’s obviously following Donald Trump in his efforts to censor and stifle the press.”

A federal judge on Tuesday extended an order blocking the Trump administration from banning reporters from CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, according to the Associated Press. The judge says the ban violates the First Amendment.

Harris, chair of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, favors interviews with right-leaning media and often declines requests with other outlets. He rarely holds in-person town halls.

First elected in 2010, Harris is seeking a ninth term amid a troubling Republican outlook and Trump’s low approval ratings ahead of the midterm elections.

Harris is heavily favored to win reelection in the 1st District, a Republican stronghold that includes the Eastern Shore.

Rafael Lorente, dean of UMD’s journalism school, said he was proud of Murphy for doing the hard work of journalism and of his faculty members for teaching her what to do.

“It is one of those things we teach students that this might happen, but some people can go a whole career without it,” Lorente said in an interview.

He said seeing Murphy’s tough interview with Harris made him “sad for our democracy.”

“All over our country we’re having exchanges that could go better,” he said. “We have to find ways to have difficult conversations.”

Murphy graduated in 2024 from Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, where she worked on the student newspaper, and worked as a digital intern at NBC Connecticut, according to her LinkedIn bio. She is a fellow with the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at College Park.

Had the clash made Murphy rethink her reporting on Harris or a career in journalism, Tapper asked.

“I have no intention of stopping covering him or not going into journalism,” she said.