White House Correspondents Insider

Behind the scenes of the most powerful city in the world — Washington, D.C. — and those who cover it.

Attorney General Refuses To Rule Out Jailing Journalists

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By U.S. Customs and Border Protection (160120-H-NI589-0103) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

During a hearing at the Senate Judiciary Committee, Attorney General Jeff Sessions stated he could not make a “blanket commitment” against jailing journalists for reporting the news.

In response to a question posed from Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) asking him to pledge not to put “reporters in jail for doing their jobs,” the Attorney General responded:

“Well, I don’t know that I can make a blanket commitment to that effect.  But I will say this, we have not taken any aggressive action against the media at this point.”

Sen. Klobuchar commented that the president’s recent tweets suggesting the administration could look into revoking broadcast licenses for networks prompted her to ask the Attorney General for clarification.

“We always try to find an alternative way, as you probably know, Sen. Klobuchar, to directly confronting media persons.  But that’s not a total blanket protection,” Sessions told the committee.

 

Chuck Todd Announces He Will Ignore Any Subpoena from Department of Justice’s Leak Investiation

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NBC International Information Bureau. Photo courtesy Jeff Maurone via Flickr.

NBC’s “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd said he would ignore any subpoena issued from the Department of Justice to him in the agency’s recently-announced investigation of White House leaks.

On Friday, Todd stated on Twitter that:

“If DoJ media source threat is real (I assume it’s not; just a show presser to please WH) then I look forward to ignoring that subpoena”


Attorney General Jeff Sessions said earlier on Friday that the Department of Justice was reviewing policies regarding media subpoenas.  “We respect the role that the press plays and will give them respect, but it is not unlimited.  They cannot place lives at risk with impunity.”

Todd followed up his tweet with another: “The worst way to stop leaks: threats”