Chanel Rion: Secret life of Trump's favorite journo who changed name to get White House clearance
Chanel Rion is POTUS Donald Trump's favorite White House reporter who was invited back by his press secretary when other journalists had Rion's network removed for refusing to adhere to social distancing guidelines at his coronavirus briefings.
There are many questions and doubts over One America News (OAN) White House Correspondent Chanel Rion and her background, her finances, and how she had obtained the security clearance in the White House, Daily Mail reports.
The 29-year-old journalist openly flouted the norms set by the White House Correspondents' Association after they had OAN removed from the list of reporters allowed into the briefing room given Rion's refusal to adhere to social distancing guidelines amid the coronavirus pandemic.
She had made an appearance in the White House last Wednesday and showed up at the back of the briefing room openly defying WHCA guidelines. Despite this, she was invited by Trump to ask a question. Now let's have a look into her questionable past.
Let's start with a recent example. Rion changed her last name in 2019 before applying for White House security clearance and became a correspondent for the conservative network last May. She did not have any obvious form of income even though her social media handles were filled with pictures of her in designer clothes and vacations in upscale hotels.
She was born in 1990 and was named Chanel Nmi Dayn-Ryan. Her strange name was a result of her father's many identities. Her 72-year-old father was born Danny Preboth. Son of Kansas psychic Allene Cunningham, the property developer and lawyer has used many names over the years such as Christopher Preboth, Dan Ryan, Danford Nmi Dayn-Ryan, Michael David Ryan, David Michael Ryan, and the most recent of all, Dann O Ryan.
Rion has also never spoken about her mother's South Korean family history nor has she mentioned her grandmother who is believed to be psychic and had reportedly foreseen Oprah Winfrey's success. She has also remained quiet on the accusations surrounding her father — lawsuits claiming he made millions duping property investors in Texas under his different names.
In fact, Rion gave out a 13-page statement where she revealed that her father has been very honest with regard to his real estate business and has been wrongfully accused. "Apartments were offered plainly visible and sold 'as is' with the express understanding they were 'renovation projects' only that would require large and expensive repairs of an indeterminate nature," she shared.
She added how "the untruthful allegations — the ACCUSATIONS were the screamings of vulchers [sic] trying not to pay what they owed — and the consequence of several mortgagors 'ganging up' to collaborate and escape payment of their respective million-dollar mortgages."
Rion also shared how she had filed to have her name legally changed from Dayn-Ryan to Rion at a Massachusetts court last year which is when she had applied for security clearance at the White House.
As per her fiance Bob Courtland Sykes, Rion mostly grew up in Missouri though she also suggested that she was in South Korea for a little bit in 1996. In 2010, she attended Harvard University and did an international relations course.
She spent five years at Harvard and '90% of her classes were taught by Harvard professors' though she had stated that she finished 18 months of her course via distance learning. "I wanted to be schooled with adults, to be free to go and come and travel and to work on my writing projects and not be locked into a suffocating and regimented dormitory box of a life," she revealed.