This administration and its ongoing cries of “fake news” are possibly the most dangerous threat to the 1st Amendment today. Jeff Sessions, speaking before a Senate Judiciary panel, found himself in Minnesota Rep. Amy Klobuchar’s crosshairs on the subject of a free press and jailing reporters for doing their jobs. She asked:
“Will you commit to not putting reporters in jail for doing their jobs?”
Sessions demurred, but the way he did it should alarm anyone who actually believes in the Constitution:
“Well, I don’t know that I can make a blanket commitment to that effect.”
In recent days, Trump has stepped up his attacks on the press, including calling for the FCC to review NBC’s nonexistent license. He’s railed repeatedly about the “fake news media” lying about him simply because he doesn’t like what they’re reporting, and it’s becoming clear that he wants Justice to find all the loopholes there are that might allow him to start putting reporters in jail for refusing to do what he wants.
Sessions tried to reassure the panel that the Department of Justice is always looking for alternative ways to “directly confronting” members of the media, but his words (and the smug look on his face) are frightening.
He also claimed that this has to do with leaks on sensitive national security matters and that Trump has made no secret that his targets are those who leak that information. That doesn’t jibe with Klobuchar’s question and his original answer, though, which is that he won’t commit to not jailing reporters who are doing their jobs.
He said something else, too, that’s alarming when we put all this together. Watch below:
Klobuchar: Will you commit to not putting reporters in jail for doing their jobs?
Sessions: I cant make a blanket commitment to that effect pic.twitter.com/SVcepFzXNI
— Rogue CPI (@RogueCPI) October 18, 2017
Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
