On Thursday May 1 the Department of Justice amended DOJ regulations to allow federal prosecutors to force journalists to reveal their sources or hand over their notes especially of leaked government information. It overturned a previous policy put in place by Merrick Garland in July 2019 that protected their sources.
Garland’s policy was made
to protect journalists from increasingly aggressive prosecution of leaks under
both parties during the first two decades of the 21 Century. At the time
Garland argued that the protection was necessary “to allow journalists to
perform the crucial work of informing the public without fear of legal
consequences.”
Last week AG Pam Bondi paved
the way for Thursday’s regulation by writing in a memo that the DOJ “will
not tolerate unauthorized disclosures that undermine President Trump’s
policies, victimize government agencies, and cause harm to the American people.”
TCinLA called Bondi’s new
regulation “an assault on the freedom of the press.” He noted that the
reason given was not national security but the President’s policies, and
wondered “since when did exposing wrongdoing by our
government become a crime against “the American people”?
Thom Hartmann called Bondi’s memo “a declaration of war against the very foundation of press freedom in America.” Hartmann asked the same questions of Bondi’s previous memo: “Since when did the President’s policies become sacred and beyond scrutiny? Since when did exposing wrongdoing by our government become a crime against “the American people”?
I would add: and what if
it’s the President’s policies that are victimizing government agencies
and causing harm to the American people? Brave people who expose government
wrongdoing should be treated like heroes not criminals.
Hartmann goes on to say:
History shows that when presidents attack whistleblowers and the press, they’re usually trying to hide their own misdeeds. And it sure feels like that’s exactly what Bondi and Trump are now up to. What we’re witnessing is step one in the dictator’s playbook: silence those who tell the truth about your regime.
He added:
Throughout our history, ethical
government officials who leaked information to the press have been essential to
maintaining our democracy. They’ve exposed corruption, illegal wars, and
unconstitutional surveillance, and in many cases they’ve paid a heavy price for
their courage.
Hartmann then gave as an example Daniel Ellsberg who leaked the Pentagon Papers exposing “evidence of a quarter century of aggression, broken treaties, deceptions, stolen elections, lies and murder” about the Vietnam war.
Hartmann argues that a
free press is essential for democracy to function:
The Founders understood that a
democracy cannot function without an informed citizenry, and citizens cannot be
informed without a free press that can hold the powerful accountable. That’s
why they enshrined press freedom in the First Amendment …
Attorney General Bondi has
hinted that she would like to prosecute leakers, and the journalists who report
on their revelations, for treason, a crime which can carry the death penalty. Hartmann
finds this extraordinarily alarming, that:
the Attorney General of the
United States believes that journalists doing their constitutionally protected
job could be subject to execution. … to be very clear: This is not normal. This
is not just another partisan policy dispute. This is an existential threat to
our constitutional system of government.
Hartmann concludes
We stand at a crossroads in
American history... Pam Bondi and Donald Trump have shown their true colors.
They’ve revealed their contempt for the Constitution and their fear of the
truth. They’re trying to create a country where no one can challenge their
power or expose their corruption… where “truth” is whatever the leader says it
is, and those who disagree face persecution or worse.
We cannot – we must not – let them
succeed.
Sources
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/01/us/politics/attorney-general-ban-subpoenae-reporter-notes.html
https://tcinla757.substack.com/p/poking-around-on-day-107
https://hartmannreport.com/p/theyre-coming-for-the-truth-tellers-08f
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