WASHINGTON -- White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, asked why HuffPost was excluded from Wednesday's White House pool rotation, said in a brief exchange that it was nothing personal and that participating in the White House pool was a "privilege."

She added that HuffPost was not being dropped from the rotation of the pool, which allows journalists from different organizations to work cooperatively to cover the White House. "You should be grateful," she said.

HuffPost had been dropped from the expected pool late on Tuesday evening, following Leavitt's same-day announcement that the White House would take over the pool rotation from the journalists' group that had managed it for decades. The stated purpose for the change was to allow new media outlets a chance to participate.

However, after deciding to exclude HuffPost, her office reached to Axios an existing member of the print pool rotation, which took the slot.

HuffPost asked specifically what happened between 6:42 p.m. Tuesday, when a White House press aide asked HuffPost who would be handling pool duties for Wednesday, and 10:21 p.m., when the press office finally informed HuffPost that there was "no room" in the pool for them. Leavitt said that late evening was like "the middle of the day" for her and her staff because they all worked so hard.

The White House Correspondents' Association, which has handled the pool for decades, condemned the news that the White House would taking over the pool as running counter to freedom of the press.

"This move tears at the independence of a free press in the United States," WHCA president Eugene Daniels said in a statement. "It suggests the government will choose the journalists who cover the president. In a free country, leaders must not be able to choose their own press corps."