CNN reports President Donald Trump personally pressed acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to issue controversial subpoenas that the DOJ later retracted with the power of his emblematic big black marker.
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Trump’s heavily politicized Department of Justice, run by his personal attorney Blanche later withdrew subpoenas of several reporters in connection with national security leak probes connected to the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal, but CNN reports the episode remains a “troubling example of President Donald Trump’s pressure campaign against the news media.”
None of the journalists were ever compelled to testify about their anonymous sources, and the Post confirmed that the subpoena to reporter Ellen Nakashima was withdrawn. A person familiar with the matter confirmed to CNN that the order to the Journal was also withdrawn a few weeks ago.
“The Post remained silent about the matter until Tuesday, when it reported that the Justice Department ‘withdrew the subpoenas earlier this month after they were challenged by the news organizations, according to a Justice Department official familiar with the matter.’”
But even more unnerving, according to officials familiar with the DOJ subpoenas, is the overt influence Trump wields over the DOJ, which is supposed to be independently run.
“Officials familiar with the matter told CNN that Trump personally pushed acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to issue the subpoenas. The president delivered the message — with the word ‘Treason’ written in Sharpie — on a stack of printed articles he handed to Blanche,” reports CNN.
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Additionally, one of the officials told CNN that the Justice Department’s National Security Division was already preparing to look at some of the stories’ sources, but Trump’s stack accelerated the effort.
Responding Tuesday to questions about the withdrawn subpoenas, Blanche insisted to CNN that “reporters are not our targets,” but added that the Justice Department is “not going to stop investigating people who work in this administration who think it’s okay to leak classified information.”
Press freedom groups counter that the notion that the reporting amounted to “treason” was preposterous.
“With the news out and the subpoena withdrawn, I want to reiterate our unwavering support for the First Amendment rights enshrined in our constitution, the legal protections afforded journalists, and our unblinking support of our journalists and press freedom,” wrote The Post’s executive editor Matt Murray Tuesday morning.
“This institution stands behind each of you,” Murray added. “It is in The Washington Post’s DNA to question, investigate, uncover and report. That’s why we’re here and what we’ll keep doing.”
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