Trump's war on the public's right to know
President Trump threatens to jail a journalist over Iran war reporting, while a federal judge rules twice that the Pentagon's press restrictions violate the First Amendment. From Watergate to Abu Ghraib, government leaks have been the sources for some of the most consequential reporting. Now, the Trump administration insists the public doesn't have the right to know.
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#FreeSpeech #Politics #TrumpTranscript
Follow along using the transcript.
I want to take you back to June 1 1971 at 6 o'clock that evening the presses began to roll.
6 seconds
For
weeks leading up to that moment a team of reporters and editors from
the New York Times had been holed up inside a block of hotel rooms just
up the street here at the New York Hilton.16 seconds
They were secretly organizing.17 seconds
They were secretly UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS THAT THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT DID NOT KNOW YET THAT THEY HAD.27 seconds
ROBERT MCDOMER AT THE TIME WAS THEN PRESIDENT LINDEN Johnson Secretary of Defense.32 seconds
By 1967, McNamara had developed some doubts about the war that he had helped build.39 seconds
So he commissioned a secret internal study to understand how the United STATES HAS GOTTEN ITSELF SO DEEP INTO THE VIETNAM WAR.47 seconds
HE DIDN'T TELL THE SECRETARY OF STATE ABOUT THE STUDY, HE DIDN'T TELL THE PRESIDENT.52 seconds
WHEN IT WAS FINISHED, JUST 15 COPIES OF WHAT WOULD BECOME KNOWN AS THE Pentagon papers existed. Each one was locked away.59 seconds
Now,
one of the analysts with access to that study was a man named Daniel
Ellsberg. He worked at the Rand Corporation, a Defense Department
contractor.1 minute, 7 seconds
He
had spent years as a Vietnam analyst. He had believed in the war, he
had gone there himself, walked the villages, watched soldiers die,1 minute, 17 seconds
and reading that study changed him. Ellsberg became certain of two things. The war was unwinnable, and the U .S.1 minute, 25 seconds
government knew it was unwinnable. So at night, over the course of months,1 minute, 30 seconds
Ellsberg would sneak pages out of the RAND safe and copy them one sheet at a time on a Xerox machine.1 minute, 37 seconds
And then he handed those pages to a reporter.1 minute, 40 seconds
On June 13th, 1979, 1971, the New York Times published the first of its reports.1 minute, 48 seconds
The Nixon administration went to court the very next day for 15 days,1 minute, 53 seconds
a federal court order prevented the Times from publishing any more on the Pentagon Papers. But Ellsberg himself didn't stop.2 minutes
He passed another copy of the Pentagon Papers to the Washington Post's national editor.2 minutes, 5 seconds
So the Washington Post began publishing the papers on June 18th,2 minutes, 10 seconds
and the government went back to court and tried to stop them too.2 minutes, 13 seconds
So
now two of the biggest newspapers in America were fighting the United
States government over the very same set of documents, leaked documents.2 minutes, 21 seconds
The case made it to the Supreme Court on an emergency basis. Twelve days later, June 30th,2 minutes, 28 seconds
1971, the court ruled six to three that the government, the U .S.2 minutes, 32 seconds
government had not met the bar required to suppress the publication of these documents.2 minutes, 38 seconds
The press had the right to publish the Pentagon Papers.2 minutes, 42 seconds
In
his concurring opinion, Justice Hugo Black described the essential
role that the framers always intended a free press to play in democracy.2 minutes, 49 seconds
Quote, the press was to serve the governed, not the governors.2 minutes, 53 seconds
Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government.2 minutes, 59 seconds
At
Paramount, among the responsibilities of a free press is the duty to
prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people and sending
them off to3 minutes, 7 seconds
the distant lands to die of foreign fevers and foreign shot and shell.3 minutes, 12 seconds
In my view, far from deserving condemnation for their courageous reporting, The New York Times, The Washington Post,3 minutes, 19 seconds
and other newspapers should be commended for serving the purpose that the founding fathers saw so clearly.3 minutes, 26 seconds
In revealing the workings of government that led to the Vietnam War,3 minutes, 30 seconds
the newspapers nobly did THAT THE FOUNDERS HOPED AND TRUSTED THEY WOULD DO.3 minutes, 37 seconds
END QUOTE.3 minutes, 39 seconds
THE DECEPTION JUSTICE BLACK was referring to in this instance was this.3 minutes, 43 seconds
The Johnson administration had systematically lied not only to the public,3 minutes, 47 seconds
but to Congress about the scope and the trajectory of the Vietnam War. Secret raids on North Vietnam,3 minutes, 55 seconds
Marine Corps attacks that never appeared in the press.3 minutes, 58 seconds
An American military footprint expanding far beyond what the public had been told.4 minutes, 3 seconds
The American people had been kept deliberately in the dark about a war that was being waged in their name.4 minutes, 9 seconds
They learned the truth because one man decided they had the right to know. None of that happens without a leak.4 minutes, 18 seconds
Fast forward to January 2004, a U .S.4 minutes, 21 seconds
Army Reserve Specialist named Joseph Darby is stationed at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Darby didn't set out to blow any whistles.4 minutes, 29 seconds
He stumbled onto what was happening by accident.4 minutes, 32 seconds
He
asked a fellow soldier corporal Charles Grainer for scenic photographs
of the Iraqi countryside that he could send home to his family.4 minutes, 40 seconds
What he found instead on the CD of photos he was given were images of American military personnel humiliating,4 minutes, 49 seconds
torturing and sexually abusing Iraqi detainees. Naked prisoners stacked in human pyramids. MEN hooded and wired to electrodes.4 minutes, 58 seconds
A young soldier holding a leash that was attached to a man's neck.5 minutes, 2 seconds
It took Darby three weeks to decide what to do with this information. He was promised anonymity.5 minutes, 9 seconds
He was, after all, a soldier living among the very people against THE STORY FOUND ITS WAY TO CBS.5 minutes, 17 seconds
PRODUCERS
TRAVELED TO KUWAIT, TALKED TO A DOZEN SOURCES, CONFIRMED THE
PHOTOGRAPHS. AS THEY PREPARED TO BROADCAST, THE PETTAGON CALLED CBS AND
ASKED THEM TO delay.5 minutes, 26 seconds
Don't jeopardize American operations, they said.5 minutes, 29 seconds
Don't endanger the lives of soldiers and hostages.5 minutes, 32 seconds
CBS waited two weeks and then aired the story in April of 2004. Congressional hearings soon followed,5 minutes, 40 seconds
a
Pentagon review described what happened in Abu Ghraib as sadistic,
blatant and wanton criminal abuses. And then the Secretary of Defense,5 minutes, 50 seconds
Donald Rumsfeld, testifying before Congress, burned Darby's anonymity. He thanked him by name on live television.5 minutes, 59 seconds
Within hours, everybody in his unit knew.6 minutes, 2 seconds
Darby was sitting eating lunch at the time in a crowded mess hall in Iraq,6 minutes, 6 seconds
watching the hearings along with some 400 of his fellow troops.6 minutes, 11 seconds
He was never able to go back to the life he had before,6 minutes, 14 seconds
but
the American public learned what was being done in their name, in that
prison, thanks to Joseph Darby. None of that happens without a leak.6 minutes, 24 seconds
Let's go back further.6 minutes, 26 seconds
June
17th, 1972, five burglars are arrested inside the headquarters of the
Democratic National Committee at the Watergate complex in Washington.6 minutes, 34 seconds
The story lands on two relatively unknown reporters at the Washington Post, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.6 minutes, 41 seconds
What
those reporters don't know yet is that the The number two official at
the FBI, the associate director, a man named W. Mark Felt,6 minutes, 49 seconds
knows exactly what the White House is up to.6 minutes, 52 seconds
It is pressuring his bureau to shut down its own Watergate investigation.6 minutes, 57 seconds
Frustrated
by the obstruction and believing the White House was undermining the
FBI's independence, Felt began leaking to journalists in secret.7 minutes, 5 seconds
Six times between October 1972 and November in November 1973, Felt met Woodward in a parking garage in Rosslyn, Virginia.7 minutes, 13 seconds
Parking space D32.7 minutes, 15 seconds
He
chose that spot because of its proximity to the stairwell meant that
they could hear anyone who was coming. In fact, they communicated by
signals.7 minutes, 23 seconds
A flower pot with a red flag on Woodward's balcony meant one thing, meant meet tonight.7 minutes, 29 seconds
Mark
Felt risked everything because he believed the president was using the
power of the federal government to cover up crimes against democracy
itself.7 minutes, 36 seconds
He kept that secret, by the way, for 33 years.7 minutes, 39 seconds
He finally revealed himself in 2005 at the age of 91.7 minutes, 43 seconds
His
leads helped Woodward and Bernstein connect the Watergate break-in to
high-level White House officials, exposing illegal wiretapping,7 minutes, 52 seconds
political sabotage, and a pattern of obstruction that reached directly into the Oval Office.7 minutes, 57 seconds
It led to Senate hearings in 1973 and led directly to Nixon's resignation on August 9th, 1974.8 minutes, 5 seconds
A
president of the United States was held accountable for crimes against
democracy. None of that happens without a leak. Which brings us to this
week.8 minutes, 14 seconds
On
Monday, President Trump stood at the White House and he threatened to
jail the journalist behind reporting that a second airman was missing in
Iran after an F-15 was shot down.8 minutes, 24 seconds
His
exact words, quote, we're going to go to the media company that
released it. We're going to say national security, give it up or go to
jail, end quote.8 minutes, 33 seconds
Now the premise of that threat is absurd. The crash was not a secret.8 minutes, 37 seconds
Iranian
forces knew they had shot down an American jet and the fact that a
two-seater fighter aircraft carried two crew members was not classified
intelligence.8 minutes, 48 seconds
It was basic arithmetic.8 minutes, 50 seconds
An F-15 carries a pilot and a weapons systems officer.8 minutes, 55 seconds
You do not need a security clearance to know that.8 minutes, 57 seconds
The hypocrisy of this is hard to ignore because while threatening to jail reporters for revealing sensitive information,9 minutes, 3 seconds
Trump himself voluntarily disclosed that 155 aircraft including bombers, fighter jets,9 minutes, 8 seconds
and refueling tankers were involved in the rescue mission.9 minutes, 11 seconds
The same president who calls journalists traitors for reporting what he doesn't want to be known openly broadcasts9 minutes, 18 seconds
operational details when it suits TRUTH SOCIAL THREATENING TO CHARGE MEDIA OUTLETS WITH TREASON OVER THEIR WAR COVERAGE.9 minutes, 26 seconds
IN MARCH HE POSTED A LENGTHY TIRADE TO TRUTH SOCIAL THREATENING TO CHARGE MEDIA OUTLETS WITH TREASON OVER THEIR WAR9 minutes, 34 seconds
COVERAGE
THE FCC CHAIR BRENDAN CAR PILED ON THREATENING TO REVOKE BROADCASTER'S
LICENSES OVER THEIR COVERAGE OF THE WAR BUT THESE THREATS AGAINST9 minutes, 42 seconds
THE
FREE PRESS GO FAR BEYOND THE WAR IN IRAN THEY ARE PART OF THE WAR
COVERAGE OF A SUSTAINED METHODICAL CAMPAIGN IN SEPTEMBER A NEW POLICY
THAT STILL9 minutes, 49 seconds
RESTRICTED UNDER GOVERNMENT ESCORT.9 minutes, 58 seconds
ruled again. The Defense Department, he wrote,10 minutes
was
attempting to control the message so that the public hears and sees
only what the Secretary of Defense and the Trump administration want
the public to hear and see.10 minutes, 8 seconds
Quote, he closed with this. Quote, the Constitution demands better. The American public demands better, too.10 minutes, 15 seconds
The Pentagon, by the way, says it will appeal. It's in the process of appealing.10 minutes, 20 seconds
But here's what you need to understand about all of this.10 minutes, 22 seconds
Taken
together, Daniel Ellsberg faced 115 years in prison for telling
Americans that their government had lied to them about Vietnam for a
decade.10 minutes, 30 seconds
Joseph
Darby was never able to go back to the life he had before for telling
the Army what its soldiers were doing to prisoners in American custody.10 minutes, 37 seconds
Mark
Felt risked everything and kept that secret for 33 years because he
believed a president was using the power of the federal government to
cover up crimes against democracy itself.10 minutes, 46 seconds
In each case, the government called it a threat to national security. In each case, history judged otherwise.10 minutes, 53 seconds
What this administration is building through credential revocations,10 minutes, 57 seconds
through
courtroom defiance, through the threat of prison for reporters who
receive information from sources inside the government is a system in
which the next Abu Ghraib stays buried,11 minutes, 6 seconds
in which the next deep throat never makes the call,11 minutes, 9 seconds
in which the war of choice being waged in our names is built on a narrative that no one is allowed to question.11 minutes, 15 seconds
That
is not national That is a government trying to hide the truth of a war,
a war whose folly is becoming harder and harder to conceal by the day.11 minutes, 25 seconds
Responding to the president's threats,11 minutes, 27 seconds
Seth Stern of the Freedom of Oppressed Foundation put PUT IT PLAINLY,11 minutes, 31 seconds
QUOTE,
JOURNALISTS DON'T WORK FOR THE GOVERNMENT AND THEIR RIGHT TO PUBLISH
GOVERNMENT LEAKS IS PROTECTED BY THE FIRST AMENDMENT WHICH DESPITE
TRUMP'S EFFORTS REMAINS THE LAW11 minutes, 39 seconds
OF THE It does not disappear whenever the words national security are uttered.11 minutes, 44 seconds
Some
of the most important news stories in American history have come from
confidential sources, including stories that have brought down corrupt
presidents.11 minutes, 50 seconds
That's why Trump is so obsessed with leaks. It has nothing to do with national security, end quote.
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