Trump Deputy Attorney General Won’t Rule Out Throwing Reporters In Jail

Trump’s Deputy Attorney General is refusing to rule out throwing reporters in jail to get them to divulge their sources.

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Transcript via Fox News Sunday:

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WALLACE: OK. But there’s another aspect of this, which is if a reporter gets information from somebody, puts it out in the beginning of the Obama administration, they were very aggressive in going after their sources. And if you subpoena information and they refused to disclose it, they can still end up in jail at the end of the Obama administration after a backlash from reporters, they loosened up on that. And first of all, it had to be approved specifically by the attorney general and it was kind of a last resort to go after reporters sources.

Are you are reviewing that?

ROSENSTEIN: Yes, Chris, that’s a different issue. That policy has been in existence for a very long time. Attorney General Holder revised that in 2015. It’s possible he got it exactly right but maybe he didn’t. We’re going to take a fresh look at that, and we’ve gotten feedback from our career prosecutors and agents that some of the procedural hurdles are delaying their investigation. So, I think it’s important for us to take a fresh look at it and evaluate whether or not there are any improvements that should be made.

WALLACE: And what that means in your effort to get sources that you end up putting a reporter who refuses to disclose that source in jail?

ROSENSTEIN: I’m not going to answer a hypothetical, Chris. As I said, I think it depends upon the facts and circumstances in each case.

Trump’s Deputy Attorney General refused to rule out putting reporters in jail in order to get the leakers. Rosenstein’s refusal to rule out jailing reporters is troubling because leaks are the only way that people have gotten facts about this administration. When a White House lies to the American people an average of 5 times a day, leaking is the only way for the truth to get out.

Press freedom is under assault from this administration because the free press is all that is standing between Donald Trump and the ability to do whatever he wants. When Trump and his White House rant about leaks, what they are really worried about is people finding out the truth about this administration. Leakers have to leak because that is the only way for the American people to get truthful information about their own government.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association