President Donald Trump’s effort to ban CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House is “deeply disturbing,” former secretary of state Hillary Clinton told The Washington Post’s Jason Rezaian in an interview Tuesday.
“Honestly, every day that goes by, another unconstitutional, illegal action takes place on the part of this administration,” she said. “And this latest one is so troubling because kicking out news organizations from covering the administration from the White House really sends a signal that everything is at risk.”
Rezaian, The Post’s director of press freedom initiatives, was imprisoned in Iran for 544 days between 2014 to 2016.
Clinton admitted the relationship between the press and government officials is often contentious but said any effort to remove news outlets is beyond the pale. “Look, it’s not pleasant a lot of the time. You feel like you’re not being treated fairly. … That is part of the give-and-take in not just politics, but democracy.”
Clinton, who also served as first lady and a U.S. senator from New York, said that she is glad the ousted news organizations sued and that TV networks banded together to support them, deciding not to provide pool coverage of the president until CNN’s access is restored.
“This is clearly unconstitutional, and I think it will be found so. But why are we having to go through this?” she said.
Justice Department attorneys responded to the lawsuit in a court filing made late Tuesday, saying that the outlets flouted professional standards by “trafficking in verifiable falsehoods” and publishing information that put national security at risk. A federal judge in Washington will hold a hearing Wednesday afternoon to consider a temporary restraining order, which could temporarily restore access to the White House for CNN, MS NOW and Politico.
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The post Hillary Clinton says Trump’s media ban is ‘deeply disturbing’ appeared first on Washington Post.
