As Paul Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman, was convicted on eight out of eighteen tax and bank fraud charges in a Virgina courtroom, Cassie Semyon was there to gather the news. However, she soon became a story of her own.
Semyon, a Temple University senior and Temple Update reporter/producer was covering the trial verdict as part of her internship with veteran NBC News reporter, Andrea Mitchell. Television cameras and photojournalists captured the intern running the verdict from the courthouse on foot, as cell phones and cameras were prohibited in the courtroom.
A photo (seen above) of Cassie’s dash snapped by AP photographer Jacquelyn Martin and video tweeted by NPR’s Melissa Block quickly went viral.
The sprint from the Manafort courthouse after the verdict: guilty on 8 felony counts; hung jury on 10 counts. (No phones allowed in courthouse, so news comes via fleet feet.) pic.twitter.com/JDc8QyMBxs
— melissa block (@NPRmelissablock) August 21, 2018
Friday morning, Cassie appeared on NBC’s Today to discuss her story.
No cameras or phones were allowed in the courtroom when the Paul Manafort verdict was handed down, so the breaking news had to be delivered by foot.
The stride of one @NBCNews intern caught everyone’s attention and turned her into a viral sensation! #OrangeRoom pic.twitter.com/oBoGt5HqmS
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) August 24, 2018
She has also been featured by various publications and television outlets, including USA Today, Inside Edition, and BBC News.
Cassie has been a volunteer reporter/producer with Temple Update since her first semester at Temple in fall 2015. In a statement, she said:
“I can’t wait to work the Update team again! They are my second family. We have a new set, a new website, and I’m really excited to reimagine Update and try new things, and make this a great senior year.”
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