WH Chief Priebus Reveals Trump Still Wants to Make It Easier to Sue Journalists


WH Chief Priebus Reveals Trump Still Wants to Make It Easier to Sue Journalists

Susanne Posel ,Chief Editor Occupy Corporatism | Host of Hardline Radio Show

White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus told “This Week” host Jonathan Karl that the Trump administration is looking into loosening “libel laws” and changing “press laws”.

Karl asked: “That would require, as I understand it, a constitutional amendment. Is he really going to pursue that? Is that something he wants to pursue?”

Priebus responded: “I think it’s something that we’ve looked at. How that gets executed or whether that goes anywhere is a different story.”

In order to force “newspapers and news agencies need to be more responsible with how they report the news” to the satisfaction of the Trump administration, Priebus explained that changing the libel laws is “something that is being looked at.

During the campaign trail , Trump threatened to “open up our libel laws” if he were elected. He complained about news media “purposely [writing] negative and horrible and false articles” at a time when stories were being published about topics Trump was trying to avoid; such as his refusal to release his tax returns and the Access Hollywood tape revealing the now infamous pussy-grabbing comments.

In February of this year, as leaks to the press about Donald Trump and his possible ties to Russia continue to shed light on how the current administration assumed power, Trump reiterated in a combative news conference that something has to be done about the “dishonest media”.

Trump said: “I’m making this presentation this morning directly to the American people… because many of our nation’s reporters and folks will not tell you the truth.”

He went on to say: “The press has become so dishonest that if we don’t talk about it we are doing a tremendous disservice to the American people. We have to talk about it to find out what’s going on because honestly, the media is out of control. The level of dishonesty is out of control.”

And just last month, Trump threatened the New York Times with libel lawsuits.

The broader picture here is this is just the latest in a long narrative of systematic attacks Trump has made against the 1st amendment, free speech and the constitutionally protected right to “freedom of the press”. This gives rise to the concern that under the Trump presidency, the right of free speech may be in danger.

It was Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president who introduced the American public to “alternative facts” and a terrorist attack in Bowling Green, Kentucky that never happened.

Sean Spicer, press secretary for the White House, also made up a terrorist attack in Atlanta, Georgia that never happened, and repeated that lie over the course of several press briefings and interviews on mainstream news networks.

But on a personal level, Trump has sued journalists for questioning his prowess. In 2006, he sued a journalist for libel over questions about whether or not he really is a billionaire. In an attempt to silence the reporter and the subsequent story, Trump claimed he suffered $5 billion dollars in damages to his “brand”.


Susanne Posel

Susanne Posel



Chief Editor | Investigative Journalist
OccupyCorporatism.com



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