President Donald Trump ramped up his feud with CNN and other news outlets, but one of the network’s anchors flagged a telling detail in his latest attack.
The 80-year-old president followed through on his threat to ban CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House over the weekend, and threatened to ban others, and Trump responded to widespread criticism of his move.
“The White House is not instituting an assault on the Free Press, something which I cherish,” Trump posted Monday morning on his social media platform Truth Social. “It is instituting an assault on the FAKE NEWS, something that has grown like Cancer in our beloved United States of America. It is corrupt, purposeful, pervasive, fully coordinated, and totally out of control. It is a threat to our National Security, and must be stopped, NOW!”
CNN’s Sara Sidner highlighted that last line during a discussion with legal analyst Joey Jackson.
“I do want to ask you what the president said initially, because he said he was blocking some members of the press from accessing the White House as a result of their constant reporting ‘fake news,’” Sidner said. “Now, he has added something. Clearly, it seems he’s talked to some folks in the legal department. He is literally calling it a threat to national security, and if you look at the reporting, it’s outrageous. I mean, the reporting that he doesn’t like, but he has changed his tact in exactly what he says is the problem. Does that fly? Will that work? Is that an important new addition?”
Jackson agreed that argument was significant.
“It’s extremely important because the rationale as to why you’re doing something is always critical, right?” he said. “The context matters, perspective matters, and if you’re doing it and just want to be clear, the White House certainly has operational concerns. You can regulate the decorum of the media, right, with regard to what they’re going to do, the procedural mechanisms of how they do it. You ask your question; you stop before you make a follow–up– all that’s fair. But, and of course, national security buzzwords, right? If it relates to security or public protection, you can do it. I just don’t see how this at all relates to that.”
– YouTube youtu.be
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