Tag: Trump attack on U.S. Constitution

Daniel Ellsberg: Espionage Charges Against Assange Are Most Significant Attack on Press in Decades

As the Justice Department charges WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange with 17 counts of violating the Espionage Act, we speak to Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg. In 1971, he was charged with violating the Espionage Act for leaking a top-secret report on U.S. involvement in Vietnam to The New York Times and other publications. At the time, Ellsberg faced over 100 years in prison. He tells Democracy Now!, “There hasn’t actually been such a significant attack on the freedom of the press … since my case in 1971.”

View the complete May 24 article with video on the Democracy Now! website here.

Scalise Defends Trump Joking About Gianforte Assaulting a Reporter

Majority whip says Trump was ‘ribbing’ Gianforte, not asking his supporters to engage in violence

Reps. Paulsen and Scalise Credit: Paulsen Instagram screengrab

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise has been on TV, Twitter and writing op-eds criticizing Democrats for inciting violence, but on Friday he defended President Donald Trump’s comments about a congressman’s assault on a reporter as simply a joke.

Last year Montana Rep. Greg Gianforte body slammed Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs after the reporter tried to ask him questions about his views on a GOP health care plan.

Trump, during a rally in Montana with Gianforte on Thursday night, said he thought the incident actually helped the Republican get elected to Congress.

Sanders, Acosta in intense clash over Trump, press

The following article by Brett Samuels was posted on the Hill website August 2, 2018:

Credit: CNN

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Thursday refused to say the media is not the enemy of the people in an extraordinary exchange with CNN’s Jim Acosta, who has been at the center of a firestorm over President Trump and the press.

Sanders during the back and forth at the White House press briefing read off a laundry list of media reports she cited as unfair or misleading, calling the president’s repeated attacks on the press “completely understandable.”

“I think the president has made his position known,” Sanders said, before turning her attention to Acosta in particular. “It’s ironic, Jim, that not only you and the media attack the president for his rhetoric when they frequently lower the level of conversation in this country.”

View the complete article here.

New White House official defends decision to ban CNN reporter by scolding other reporters

The following article by Aaron Rupar was posted on the ThinkProgress website July 26, 2018:

“You ask her if we ever used the word ‘ban.'”

Credit: Screengrab

On Thursday morning, incoming White House Communications Director Bill Shine defended the Trump administration’s decision to bar CNN reporter Kaitlan Collinsfrom a public event at the White House by making a fuss over the exact language he used during the meeting in which he informed Collins of his decision.

During a brief interaction with reporters, the former Fox News executive admonished reporters to ask Collins “if we ever used the word ‘ban.’”

“What word would you use, Bill?” a reporter asked him.

View the complete article here.