Trump making plans to begin jailing reporters critical of his administration
In his latest assault against the First Amendment’s protection of free speech and the free press, Donald Trump is ready to aggressively pursue reporters who receive leaked information from confidential government sources. Once implemented, the policy will give Trump the ability to begin jailing reporters who resist his tyrannical administration.
Trump began laying the foundation for jailing reporters critical of his administration just days after the 2024 election when he ordered his bought and paid for Republican Party buddies in the Senate to “KILL” a bill designed to protect the fourth estate. The bill, known as the Protect Reporters from Exploitative State Spying (PRESS) Act, would have protected reporters and journalists from government bullying and had already unanimously passed the GOP-controlled House.
During his 2024 campaign, Trump repeatedly promised to exact retribution on his political rivals and critics — including members of the press — using the guidelines provided by Project 2025 and the accompanying Agenda 47. Using Project 2025 as his instruction manual — he once claimed he knew nothing about the document — Trump will rein in the free press, beginning with a renewed emphasis on expanding libel laws to make it easier to sue media outlets for spreading “fake news.”
But hey, why sue the media out of business when you can just throw reporters in jail? (via AlterNet.org):
In a Monday morning, April 28 post on his Truth Social platform, President Donald Trump — angry over his low approval ratings in recent polls — called for the New York Times, ABC News, the Washington Post and others to be “investigated for election fraud.”
The post came three days after ABC News’ Katherine Faulders reported that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), under U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, had “rescinded a policy implemented during the Biden Administration that restricted prosecutors from seizing reporters’ records in criminal investigations, according to an internal memo obtained by ABC News.”
In an article published by Salon on April 29, Austin Sarat — a professor of jurisprudence and political science at Amherst College in Massachusetts — warns that the Trump Administration and the Trump-era DOJ are quite serious about using the legal system against reporters.
“(The Trump Administration’s) latest effort to bring the press to heel came on April 25, when news leaked of the Justice Department’s intention to aggressively pursue journalists who receive leaked information from confidential government sources,” Sarat explains. “When it is implemented, the policy will give the administration another tool to make the lives of reporters miserable and provide the basis for jailing those who resist.”
Sarat continues, “While no journalists are presently in jail in this country for doing their jobs, prosecuting and punishing them is a regular part of the arsenal of repressive regimes around the world. And the atmosphere for the American press is by no means friendly. April alone saw a dramatic escalation of threats.”(Emphasis mine)
From the beginning of his 2016 campaign and throughout his first term, Donald Trump displayed a clear hatred of the Constitution because of the limits it placed on his tyrannical ambitions. Nowhere was this more evident than in his self-declared war against the news media — or as he repeatedly called it, the “enemy of the American people” — where he promised to “open our libel laws” so that when the press writes “purposely negative and horrible and false articles” about him, he can “sue them and win lots of money.”
“We’re going to open up those libel laws. So that when the New York Times writes a hit piece, which is a total disgrace, or when the Washington Post, which is there for other reasons, writes a hit piece, we can sue them and win money instead of having no chance of winning because they’re totally protected.” (Emphasis mine)
During his 2016 campaign, Trump revoked the press credentials of the Washington Post for their “incredibly inaccurate coverage” of his campaign, and he added them to a media enemies list that also included: Univision, Buzz Feed, Politico, The Daily Beast, The Huffington Post, and The Des Moines Register. Trump’s list became known as “the blacklist” by members of the press.
Having served as Exhibit A in Trump’s war against Freedom of the Press in 2016 and 2020, the Washington Post appeared to surrender to his assault against liberty in 2024 when the publication made the decision a few days prior to the 2024 election not to make an endorsement for president.
Trump’s lawsuit threats of the past and his current threat to begin jailing reporters critical of his administration fits perfectly with the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 call for a massive expansion and centralization of executive power. Still, Trump attempted to disavow any knowledge of Project 2025 even though he twice praised Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts by name during his 2024 campaign.
In January 2024, Trump gave Roberts a shoutout on his Truth Social account as “the highly respected president of the Heritage Foundation,” and noting he was a “wonderful guest” on Fox & Friends. Trump urged Roberts to “keep going” and “get the word out!”
In February 2024 Trump again praised Roberts, this time from the stage during the meeting of the National Religious Broadcasters. In his remarks, Trump said: “Heritage Foundation president, somebody else doing an unbelievable job. He’s bringing it back at levels it’s never seen. Dr. Kevin Roberts. Kevin, thank you, Kevin. Kevin, thank you, wherever you may be.”
I know there are many ready to accuse me of distorting the facts concerning Trump’s plan to begin jailing reporters who are critical of his administration, but none other than Attorney General Pam Bondi herself made his intentions perfectly clear in her memo that revoked First Amendment protections for reporters (via Salon.com):
Bondi’s new memo chastises the news media for publishing leaked material “that undermine(s) President Trump’s policies, victimize(s) government agencies, and cause(s) harm to the American people”.
Calling such activity Illegal and immoral, the Attorney General said she would be personally responsible for approving “efforts to question or arrest members of the news media.”
There you have it. Journalists are put on notice that if they publish leaked material that “undermine(s) President Trump’s policies,” they may be arrested. (Emphasis mine)
I leave you with these words from Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black written over 50 years ago after a leak of the Vietnam-era Pentagon Papers to the New York Times and Washington post:
“In the First Amendment, the founding fathers gave the Free Press the protection it must have to fulfill its essential role in our democracy… the government’s power to censor the press was abolished so that the press could remain forever free to censure the government.”
“The press was protected so that it could bear the secrets of the government and inform the people. Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government.” (Emphasis mine)
By the way, it was Richard Nixon — a man Trump is often compared to for many reasons — that brought the Vietnam Pentagon Papers case to SCOTUS. Ironic, isn’t it?
David Leach is the owner of the Strident Conservative. He holds people of every political stripe accountable for their failure to uphold conservative values, and he promotes those values instead of political parties.
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