#press-freedom
18 entries with this tag
A Federal Judge Threw Out Trump's $10 Billion Defamation Suit Against the Wall Street Journal, Rupert Murdoch, and Dow Jones Over Their Story About a Lewd 2003 Birthday Letter to Jeffrey Epstein Bearing Trump's Name — This Time Dismissing It With Prejudice So It Cannot Be Refiled — and Wrote That the President Was "Grasping at Straws," Calling His Legal Team's Ghislaine Maxwell References a "Red Herring"
On October 31, 2026, U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles in Miami dismissed — for the second time, and this time with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled — Trump's $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal, its owner Rupert Murdoch, and Dow Jones. The suit targeted the Journal's reporting on a lewd 2003 letter, bearing Trump's name, prepared for Jeffrey Epstein's 50th birthday, which Trump denies writing. Gayles found that Trump had failed to show the reporting was published with "actual malice" — the demanding constitutional standard a public figure must meet to win a defamation case — and he did not spare the president's lawyering: he wrote that Trump was "grasping at straws," suggested the legal team had tried to manufacture flaws in the Journal's investigation, and dismissed the complaint's references to Ghislaine Maxwell as a "red herring." The judge had already tossed an earlier version in the spring, giving Trump a chance to refile, which he did; this time there is no second chance. Trump says he will appeal. The failure here is twofold: a sitting president using a $10 billion lawsuit to try to punish a newspaper for reporting on his Epstein ties, and a court finding the effort so legally empty that it ended it permanently with a rebuke attached.
The White House Counsel Sent Politico a Letter Giving It 48 Hours to Retract Three Stories About Chief of Staff Susie Wiles or Face an "Immediate Review" of Its White House Access and "Available Legal Remedies" — While the Administration Floated Moving the Entire Press Corps Out of the Building and Restoring the Briefing Room to Its Old Use as a Swimming Pool; Politico Corrected the One Error It Found and Refused the Rest
In late October 2026, the Trump White House escalated its campaign against the press from exclusion to coercion. On October 19, White House Counsel Will Scharf wrote to Politico's global editor-in-chief, Jonathan Greenberger, demanding that the outlet retract or correct three stories about Chief of Staff Susie Wiles within 48 hours — warning that noncompliance would trigger an "immediate review" of Politico's relationship with the White House and "consideration of available legal remedies." That a government lawyer, whose duty runs to the Constitution, would threaten a news organization's access and hint at legal action over unflattering coverage is a direct inversion of the First Amendment. Politico did not capitulate: its attorney, Theodore Boutrous, said the outlet "categorically rejects the false accusations," had reexamined all three articles, concluded exactly one warranted a correction and corrected it, and said the demand "further confirms the unlawful retaliatory and viewpoint discriminatory motives" behind the administration's September ban of Politico, CNN, and MS NOW. At the same time, the New York Times reported the administration was weighing moving the entire White House press corps out of the building — with Trump floating restoring the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room to its original use as a swimming pool. Together the two moves describe the project plainly: the press is to be corrected, relocated, or removed until coverage of the White House is coverage the White House controls.
The New White House Press Secretary, Katie Zacharia, Debuted With a Roughly 14-Minute, Heavily Scripted Briefing That Took Questions From Only Three Friendly Outlets — Breitbart, Fox News, and the Daily Mail — the Daily Government Briefing Now Reduced to a Short, Curated Event After the Administration Banned CNN, MS NOW, and Politico and the Television Pool Walked Out; the Rocky Personal Debut Made the Headlines, but the Hollowing-Out of the Briefing Itself Is the Real Story
On October 13, 2026, Katie Zacharia — the new White House press secretary, the 37th, who replaced Karoline Leavitt — held her first briefing. The coverage fixated on how it went for her personally: it ran only about 14 minutes (Fox's Bill Hemmer noted the clock on air), much of it a prepared statement on Trump's midterm rallies and economic and border messaging, and she drew mockery for a nervous slip in which she referred to her husband as "my president," along with visible reliance on her notes. Critics called it a train wreck; defenders fairly noted it was essentially her first day on the job, and the "bombs" framing is the critics' verdict, not a neutral one. A rough first briefing is not, by itself, a scandal; everyone has a first day. What belongs in a record of this administration is not Zacharia's nerves but the shape of the event she was handed. She took questions for roughly five and a half minutes, from exactly three outlets — Breitbart, Fox News, and the Daily Mail, all friendly to the administration. That is not an accident of her debut; it is the current design. The briefing did not simply shrink — it had largely gone dark: Karoline Leavitt left the podium at the end of August, and for roughly six weeks the White House had no press secretary and no regular briefings at all, filling the gap only with occasional sessions led by Vice President JD Vance and Attorney General Todd Blanche. After the White House banned CNN, MS NOW, and Politico, and the five-network television pool suspended coverage in protest, the daily briefing — once the central venue where the free press questions the government on the public's behalf — has been pared down into a brief, controlled appearance before a hand-picked, sympathetic audience. (For scale: Leavitt's briefings averaged about 45 minutes; Zacharia's ran under 15.) The new press secretary's debut is notable less for how she performed than for what the performance now consists of.
Trump's Ban of CNN Backfired Into a Rare Show of Press Solidarity: The Five Networks in the White House TV Pool — Fox News Among Them — Refused to Replace CNN and Suspended Televised Pool Coverage of the President Rather Than Help Him Sideline It, Leaving Him Without Independent TV Coverage on the Eve of His U.N. Trip While CNN, MS NOW, and Politico Sue Over the First Amendment
On Monday, September 21, 2026, the White House television press pool suspended its coverage of Donald Trump — a rare, coordinated act of protest against his ban of CNN, MS NOW, and Politico three days earlier. The pool is the five-network consortium (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox News, and CNN) that takes turns covering the president's events on behalf of all outlets. CNN was scheduled to run Monday's pool coverage and accompany Trump to New York for the United Nations General Assembly; when the White House barred CNN from performing that duty, the other networks refused to replace it. Fox News' Washington bureau chief Bryan Boughton — the acting chair of the TV pool consortium — announced that "the TV pool will not be covering events designated as pool coverage of the President," and that "there will be no replacement pool." That Fox, Trump's friendliest network, stood with CNN rather than help the White House route around the ban is the most striking part. All five networks issued a joint statement: "The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government. No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting." CNN, MS NOW, and Politico announced they are filing a First Amendment lawsuit. Trump set out to punish outlets whose coverage he dislikes; he ended up with no independent TV pool coverage of himself on the way to address the world, a unified press corps rebuking him, and a lawsuit — an own-goal on top of an abuse.
Trump Declared Three Major News Organizations — CNN, MS NOW, and Politico — "Banned" From the White House "Effective Immediately," Explicitly Because He Dislikes Their Coverage, Which He Called "FICTION and LIES," and Threatened the New York Times and Washington Post Next — a Viewpoint-Based Purge of the Press That Federal Courts Have Already Ruled the White House Cannot Do
On September 18, 2026, Trump announced on Truth Social that he was banning CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House "effective immediately," declaring that the three outlets "shouldn't be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they're covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America." He threatened to extend the bans to others, singling out the New York Times and Washington Post as "crummy." The White House did not immediately clarify the scope — whether the outlets' reporters would lose their credentials entirely or be shut out of briefings, events, and the press pool. But the stated basis was explicit and disqualifying: the outlets are being punished for the content of their coverage. That is textbook viewpoint discrimination, and it runs directly into settled law. In the 1977 case Sherrill v. Knight, the D.C. Circuit held that the White House cannot arbitrarily deny a press pass to a bona fide journalist, and as recently as 2025 a federal court ruled the administration could not bar the Associated Press from covering events open to the press because it disliked the AP's editorial choices. A president gets to dispute reporting he considers wrong; he does not get to decide which news organizations are allowed to cover him based on whether their coverage pleases him. This is the government choosing the press — the precise inversion of a free one.
ABC and Disney Went on the Offensive Against Trump's FCC — Suing in Federal Court and Alleging the Agency Waged a "Retaliatory Campaign" Against the Network, Ordering an Early Review of All Eight of Its Station Licenses Years Ahead of Schedule, to Punish It for Jimmy Kimmel's Jokes, "The View," and Its News Coverage
On August 18, 2026, the Walt Disney Company and ABC — along with the eight ABC-owned stations whose licenses are at stake — sued the Federal Communications Commission in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., alleging a First Amendment violation. Their claim is blunt: the FCC "has waged a retaliatory campaign against ABC for a single reason: it disapproves of what ABC broadcasts." The trigger was the FCC, under Trump ally and chairman Brendan Carr, ordering in April an "early" review of all eight ABC-owned station licenses — years before they are set to expire — nominally citing the company's diversity practices, but (per the suit) actually to punish ABC for its news coverage, the talk show "The View," and late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, who relentlessly mocks Trump. The lawsuit cites Trump's own social-media posts attacking all three, and his repeated public demands that ABC be stripped of its licenses. Two clarifications matter: this is a suit against Trump's FCC, not against Trump personally, and no court has ruled yet — the "win" that preceded it was Kimmel's reinstatement after he was pushed off the air under FCC pressure. What ABC has done now is take the government's retaliation for constitutionally protected speech and force it into open court, where using broadcast-license power to punish a network for its content is exactly what the First Amendment forbids.
The DOJ Sent Federal Agents to the Homes of Four New York Times Reporters With Grand-Jury Subpoenas — for Reporting That Trump's Qatari Air Force One Lacks Missile Defenses and That the Secret Service Told Him Not to Fly It — and the Prosecutor Who Issued Them Is Trump's Nominee to Run National Intelligence
The Justice Department subpoenaed four New York Times journalists — Julian E. Barnes, Eric Lipton, Tyler Pager, and Eric Schmitt — ordering them before a Manhattan federal grand jury "in regard to an alleged violation of criminal law." Federal agents delivered some of the subpoenas to the reporters' homes. Their offense: reporting that the Secret Service urged Trump to leave the NATO summit in Turkey aboard the old Air Force One rather than the Qatari-gifted Boeing 747, and that the gifted jet lacks "defensive countermeasures that were security features of the old model, including its advanced antimissile capabilities." The subpoenas were issued by Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan — who is himself Trump's nominee to become Director of National Intelligence, with a confirmation hearing days away — and followed a White House meeting involving FBI Director Kash Patel. The Times said it will fight the order. Its newsroom lawyer David McCraw said federal agents on reporters' doorsteps "should shock the conscience of any American who believes in the Constitution and the press freedom it protects." The National Press Club called it "an extraordinary assault on the freedom of the press that strikes at the heart of the First Amendment." The DOJ claimed "reporters are not the targets, those leaking classified information are." The move fits a pattern: the department earlier issued then withdrew similar subpoenas against Washington Post and Wall Street Journal reporters, the FBI searched a Post reporter's home in January, and in April 2025 AG Pam Bondi rescinded the Biden-era policy that shielded journalists' records in leak investigations. The reporting being criminalized is the same reporting documented here days ago — that the $400M+ rushed retrofit produced a plane one analyst said was suited to "domestic hops rather than hostile skies."
Trump Handed His Acting AG a Stack of News Articles with "Treason" Written in Sharpie — The DOJ Then Tried to Drag Post and Journal Reporters Before a Grand Jury, and Backed Down
The Washington Post reported on June 23, 2026, that Trump's Justice Department issued grand jury subpoenas this spring to compel reporters from The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal to testify under oath in a leak investigation — then withdrew them earlier this month after the two newsrooms challenged them in a secret legal fight in the Eastern District of Virginia. The targets were Post national security reporter Ellen Nakashima and three unnamed Wall Street Journal reporters. CNN reported that Trump personally pushed acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to issue the subpoenas, handing him a stack of printed articles with the word "Treason" written across them in Sharpie. The leak hunt was driven by Trump's anger over carefully sourced stories warning of the risks of attacking Iran — stories that turned out to be prescient. Compelling a journalist to reveal sources before a grand jury is extraordinarily rare; the National Press Club called it "one of the most aggressive actions against a free and independent press in recent memory." It followed a deliberate dismantling of press protections: in April, AG Pam Bondi rescinded the Biden-era policy shielding reporters' records, and in January the FBI searched the home of Post reporter Hannah Natanson and seized her devices. No reporter testified — but the DOJ offered no explanation for the withdrawal, leaving open whether the subpoenas will simply be reissued.
Colbert's Last Show: 11 Years, 1,800 Episodes, Silenced — Trump Celebrates "The Beginning of the End"
Stephen Colbert's Late Show aired its final episode — 11 years and over 1,800 episodes, ended after Paramount paid Trump $16M and got its merger approved. The finale drew 6.74 million viewers — the show's all-time weeknight record. Trump posted at 1:52 AM calling Colbert "a dead person" and "a total jerk," then followed up: "May they all Rest in Peace!" about other late-night hosts. He called the show "very poorly rated." It just set a viewership record.
Trump Calls Reporting "Virtual TREASON" After Intelligence Shows Iran Retained 70% of Its Missiles
U.S. intelligence assessments revealed Iran retained ~75% of its mobile launchers and ~70% of its missile stockpiles despite weeks of bombing — and restored access to 30 of 33 Hormuz missile sites. Trump called the reporting "virtual TREASON" and accused journalists of "aiding the enemy." The DOJ had already subpoenaed Wall Street Journal reporters for their Iran war coverage.
FBI Investigated NYT Reporter Who Wrote About Kash Patel's Girlfriend Getting an FBI SWAT Escort
FBI Director Kash Patel's bureau opened an investigation into New York Times reporter Elizabeth Williamson — who wrote about Patel giving his country singer girlfriend FBI security and transport — to determine if she broke federal stalking laws. FBI agents interviewed the girlfriend, searched databases for information on the reporter. DOJ officials killed the probe, finding no legal basis and calling it retaliation.
Judge Tosses Patel's Defamation Suit: Calling Him a "Nightclub Regular" Is "Rhetorical Hyperbole"
A federal judge dismissed FBI Director Kash Patel's defamation lawsuit against ex-FBI official Frank Figliuzzi, who said Patel was "visible at nightclubs far more than the seventh floor of" FBI HQ. The judge ruled it was "rhetorical hyperbole" — not defamation. The next day, Patel filed a new $250 million lawsuit against The Atlantic over its 26-source exposé on his drinking.
Pentagon Evicts All Reporters After Judge Strikes Down Press Rules
After a judge ruled the Pentagon's press restrictions unconstitutional — finding they were designed to weed out "disfavored journalists" — Hegseth retaliated by closing the Correspondents' Corridor and removing all media offices from the building.
Nashville Journalist Detained 16 Days by ICE for Covering Immigration — Stripped, Doused in Chemicals, Isolated
Estefany Rodríguez, a Spanish-language reporter who covers ICE for Nashville Noticias, was arrested without a warrant while her husband parked at a gym. She spent 16 days detained: 5 in isolation after guards falsely claimed lice, stripped naked and doused in chemicals.
MyPillow CEO's LindellTV Given White House and Pentagon Press Access — While Real Journalists Are Evicted
Mike Lindell's conspiracy-promoting LindellTV was given White House press room access and Pentagon press corps credentials — alongside Gateway Pundit and Epoch Times. Meanwhile, AP was banned, photographers were evicted, and the Pentagon closed its Correspondents' Corridor.
Defunded and Shut Down NPR/PBS
Trump signed an executive order targeting NPR and PBS, calling them "radical left monsters." Congress then eliminated all $1.1 billion in public broadcasting funding, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced it would shut down.
Gutted Voice of America and International Broadcasting
Trump placed 1,300 VOA journalists on leave and terminated Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe, and Radio Marti — networks that beam independent news into authoritarian countries, reaching 427 million people.
Banned AP from White House Over "Gulf of Mexico"
The White House banned Associated Press reporters from Oval Office events because AP refused to rename the Gulf of Mexico as "Gulf of America." The U.S. dropped to 57th in the World Press Freedom Index — its lowest ranking ever.