Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) believes in the freedom of the press and in respecting journalists who are trying to do their jobs — except, apparently, when they are reporters from The Daily Caller.

The Daily Caller’s Henry Rodgers confronted Menendez (pictured above) as he waited for a train on Wednesday.

Rodgers asked Menendez whether he supported the radical Green New Deal championed by the likes of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).

And Menendez made no secret of his disdain for the “trash” outlet and its co-founder, Fox News host Tucker Carlson. He refused to dignify Rodgers’ request for comment.

“Why is that?” Rodgers asked Menendez, according to an audio clip the reporter posted.

The senator replied, “Why? Because you guys are trash.”

“Why? So we’re waiting on the subway here. It’s not going to be here for about two minutes. I am wondering why you won’t answer questions on the Green New Deal?” the reporter asked.

Menendez replied, “I won’t answer questions to The Daily Caller, period! You’re trash.”

“Why do you think we’re trash, sir?” Rodgers wanted to know.

The senator said, “Oh, my God, please.”

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An intern who accompanied Rodgers told the senator, “I mean, I just started. I’m an intern here.”

“Don’t keep harassing me anymore or I’ll race to the Capitol Police. I said no,” the senator warned.

Rodgers told Fox News that he had never interacted with Menendez before and was working on getting Democratic senators’ reactions to the Green New Deal.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is planning to force a vote on the progressive Green New Deal in order to put Democrats on record for supporting or rejecting it.

One of Menendez’s communications staffers, Francisco Pelayo, praised his boss on Twitter for the way he treated The Daily Caller reporter and for refusing to answer his questions on the Green New Deal.

“Nope, there’s nothing to say to these folks. They’re not doing real reporting — they’re here to do ‘gotcha journalism’ for Tucker Carlson,” Pelayo wrote on Wednesday.

Carlson so-founded The Daily Caller more than nine years ago.

But Mediaite writer Julio Rosas noted that Pelayo previously expressed his concern about President Donald Trump’s criticism of the press.

“Guy who works communications for Senator Menendez is VERY concerned about attacks on the press when he’s not busy attacking outlets he doesn’t like,” Rosas tweeted — showing screenshots of Pelayo’s tweets.

The staffer tweeted on August 16, “The press is not the enemy of the people.”

That same day, he also tweeted, “#FreePress is not about getting positive stories. Going after the press is a real political agenda.”

Indeed, Menendez himself has offered profuse praise in the past to reporters and outlets and extolled the virtues of a free press.

“A free, and independent press — a strong Fourth Estate — is essential to the American people and our democracy, ensuring an informed public and holding those in power accountable.”

Menendez and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) also introduced a bill in May 2018 called the Journalist Protection Act, noting that it came “amidst recent assaults on reporters” and “new Trump administration attacks on press.”

“Despite the dangerous rhetoric coming from the Trump administration, and the disturbing uptick in attacks on working reporters, the press is not the enemy of the people,” Menendez said in a statement then. “A free, and independent press — a strong Fourth Estate — is essential to the American people and our democracy, ensuring an informed public and holding those in power accountable.”

But apparently Menendez only values a free press when it involves outlets he supports and likes.

Check out more in the video below: