Ousted Reporter’s Lawyer Freaks Out When President Says He Wants to Cancel Newspaper Subscriptions
While discussing some of the most liberal publications in the media in an interview Monday, President Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that he no longer wanted to subscribe to the New York Times or Washington Post because of their biased reporting. The President said, “We don’t even want it in the White House anymore, we’re going to probably terminate that and The Washington Post. They’re fake.”
Trump tells Hannity of the New York Times: "We don't even want it in the White House anymore. We're going to probably terminate that and the Washington Post."
— Rebecca Ballhaus (@rebeccaballhaus) October 22, 2019
This seemed like a fair and fairly innocent admission from the President who feels that he is covered very unfairly by these two admittedly left wing publications. However, on prominent liberal was incensed by this comment and took to twitter to bash the President.
Lawyer Ted Boutrous, did not like these comments at all. Boutrous represents CNN’s Jim Acosta and Brian Karem from Playboy, two reporters who have had their White House press credentials stripped for boorish behavior. Their lawyer said that canceling his subscriptions shows that President Trump engages in “viewpoint-based discrimination” and is “in plain violation of the First Amendment.”
More compelling evidence, indeed another confession, that @realDonaldTrump and his team engage in content- and viewpoint-based discrimination regarding certain (indeed many) members of the White House press corps, in plain violation of the First Amendment. https://t.co/dlP40wagUB
— Ted Boutrous (@BoutrousTed) October 22, 2019
Boutrous was not the only liberal on social media who took the President’s comments out of context and ran with it. In their rush to condemn the President for all manners of evil, many people falsely accused the President of censorship or worse for stating that he may no longer want to subscribe to two left wing newspapers. Not surprisingly, even the Washington Post itself jumped on the bandwagon of twisting President Trump’s words.
Trump says he doesn’t want copies of the New York Times in the White House.
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) October 22, 2019
The president says he wants to "terminate" The Post, too. https://t.co/X11w6232KB