Latest / THE DAILY BRIEF / Fmr. DOJ attorney Judge poised to 'make sure' Trump can't keep news outlets out of WH

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Fmr. DOJ attorney Judge poised to 'make sure' Trump can't keep news outlets out of WH · THE DAILY BRIEF

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  Speaker 1: I want to bring in MSNOW White House reporter Laura Barron-Lopez.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Eugene Daniels is an MSNOW senior Washington reporter and co-host
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  Speaker 1: of The Weekend, also former president of the White House
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  Speaker 1: Correspondents Association. Liz Oyer is a former pardon attorney at
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  Speaker 1: the Department of Justice and former federal public defender. And
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  Speaker 1: Molly Jong Fast is an MSNOW political analyst and host
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  Speaker 1: of Fast Politics Podcasts. and a contributing writer for New
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  Speaker 1: York Times Opinion.
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  Speaker 2: Eugene, is the.
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  Speaker 1: Concern less about whether her performance improves and more about
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  Speaker 1: what we're going to hear if and when it does?
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  Speaker 3: I think for us, it's the latter. I think for
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  Speaker 3: the president and the folks in the White House, it's
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  Speaker 3: the former. We are people, and probably a lot of
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  Speaker 3: people watching your show right now, Alicia, who want to
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  Speaker 3: hear the truth from that podium. It doesn't happen that
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  Speaker 3: often in this administration, but you at least want someone
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  Speaker 3: who will take tough questions. and tussle back and forth
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  Speaker 3: with reporters so folks can at least see what they're
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  Speaker 3: trying to hide. I think that the folks that I've
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  Speaker 3: talked to, whether they were Republicans who are outside of
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  Speaker 3: the White House, folks that are allies with Donald Trump
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  Speaker 3: and super macro Republicans, folks inside the White House, I
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  Speaker 3: have not heard one person say they liked what they
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  Speaker 3: saw today. It was her first day. It's a hard room,
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  Speaker 3: but they've all had first days, right? And the performance
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  Speaker 3: aspect of it It was maybe the worst I've seen,
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  Speaker 3: definitely under Donald Trump, who almost cares about nothing more
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  Speaker 3: than folks on camera, what they look like, what they
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  Speaker 3: sound like, do they sound tough. And everyone I talked to,
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  Speaker 3: and I think people with their own eyes and ears,
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  Speaker 3: saw that she did none of that.
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  Speaker 1: Well, especially because folks were looking for substance. And Laura,
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  Speaker 1: of the few questions that were asked, this was the
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  Speaker 1: most substantive.
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  Speaker 2: Take a listen. Has the U.S.
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  Speaker 4: Stopped sharing intel with Ukraine?
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  Speaker 2: I'll have to get back to you on that.
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  Speaker 1: So just minutes later, the president had to come out,
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  Speaker 1: clarify that we have not stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine. Laura,
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  Speaker 1: you know the work that goes into crafting these questions.
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  Speaker 1: Does she seem prepared to speak for the world's greatest
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  Speaker 1: power on topics like war and peace?
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  Speaker 5: No, she doesn't. But I think to be fair, you know,
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  Speaker 5: whether it's Caroline Leavitt or the other press secretaries that
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  Speaker 5: were under the first Trump administration, you could also question
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  Speaker 5: whether or not they were prepared. And that's because of
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  Speaker 5: who they are the press secretary for. Now, an answer
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  Speaker 5: like that to that question is stunning because of the
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  Speaker 5: fact that Ukraine is an ally. And this is the
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  Speaker 5: kind of answer that can set off a flurry, a
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  Speaker 5: foreign diplomatic flurry between different leaders of different countries. And yes,
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  Speaker 5: it is questionable whether or not the president even considers
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  Speaker 5: himself on the side of Ukraine, given what he has
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  Speaker 5: done over the last few days and his siding with
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  Speaker 5: and his deal for diesel fuel with the Russian president,
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  Speaker 5: despite what the law actually actually says, and despite Republicans
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  Speaker 5: saying that they're not necessarily on board with this. But
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  Speaker 5: I think my big takeaway here is that, yes, she
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  Speaker 5: only answered three questions. Most of them were not of substance.
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  Speaker 5: But at the end of the day, she is operating
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  Speaker 5: for an audience of one, despite the fact that the
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  Speaker 5: press secretary typically, as I know Peter Alexander has been
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  Speaker 5: laying out throughout this morning— You ask them whether or
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  Speaker 5: not they serve the American public and whether or not
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  Speaker 5: they're going to be truthful. And at the end of
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  Speaker 5: the day, this is a press secretary who was picked
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  Speaker 5: because of how loyal she is to the president, because
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  Speaker 5: she peddles in some of the same conspiracy theories that
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  Speaker 5: you outlined that he has spread and peddled, and that
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  Speaker 5: it is about her loyalty to him and to no
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  Speaker 5: one else.
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  Speaker 1: Molly, I think Laura is getting so much of it
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  Speaker 1: right about the fact that this role has been reshaped
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  Speaker 1: by Donald Trump, by what it is that he believes
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  Speaker 1: is most important. But there has also been a reshaping
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  Speaker 1: of that room. Just for context, I want you to
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  Speaker 1: take a listen to some of the first questions that
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  Speaker 1: have been asked of other press secretary, including some who
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  Speaker 1: serve Donald Trump.
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  Speaker 6: Does the president see anything fishy about either.
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  Speaker 7: Its origins or its cost, and could China's ability to
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  Speaker 7: make these models quicker, cheaper, affect our thinking about expanding
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  Speaker 7: generation data centers?
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  Speaker 1: Questions about the border wall, questions about the then attorney general,
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  Speaker 1: questions about the nature of the rule, questions about China.
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  Speaker 1: That is not what Katie Zakaria got today.
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  Speaker 5: No.
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  Speaker 1: Instead, she got sort of a fawning press corps that
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  Speaker 1: has been rebuilt in the president's image.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, well, that was what I was struck by. Fox,
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  Speaker 4: Breitbart and the Daily Mail were the three outlets she
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  Speaker 4: took questions from, all of which are right wing outlets,
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  Speaker 4: all of which are sort of more on the entertainment side.
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  Speaker 4: It was sort of stunning. And again, yes, they have
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  Speaker 4: rejiggered the press room to provide the kind of outlets
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  Speaker 4: they feel comfortable, you know, being reported on. I thought
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  Speaker 4: what was really interesting is like she's such a good
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  Speaker 4: example of the superficiality of this administration.
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  Speaker 3: Right.
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  Speaker 5: That.
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  Speaker 4: The Trump world is really cares much more about what
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  Speaker 4: is on the outside than versus what is on the inside.
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  Speaker 4: And so a lot of the people who work in
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  Speaker 4: this White House look a certain way and act a
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  Speaker 4: certain way. And, you know, I think that this is
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  Speaker 4: it's a very tough job. And that's what we're seeing is,
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  Speaker 4: you know, even if you tilt it a certain way
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  Speaker 4: and make sure that the outlets are. asking the questions
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  Speaker 4: are a certain kind of outlet, you still, it's still tough.
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  Speaker 1: And then there's the question of her herself. Zachariah has
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  Speaker 1: a series of troubling now deleted social media posts after
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  Speaker 1: Stephen Miller claimed sanctuary cities are criminal conspiracy. She responded saying,
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  Speaker 1: suspend habeas corpus. She said the federal government should take
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  Speaker 1: over all of California. There are also the posts that
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  Speaker 1: have not been deleted. This one from last month where
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  Speaker 1: she calls Abdul El-Sayed, who was born and raised in Michigan, quote,
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  Speaker 1: an indictment of our immigration system under Democrats. What does
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  Speaker 1: that tell you about what is ahead?
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  Speaker 4: Well, here's the thing. You get a job in this
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  Speaker 4: administration because you're loyal, because you prove that you're loyal.
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  Speaker 4: And even when Trump ruled, they said something the effect
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  Speaker 4: of like Trump said something effective, like she's very good
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  Speaker 4: at defending me. So you are it is really for
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  Speaker 4: an audience of one. And the only way to get
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  Speaker 4: in front of that audience of one is to say
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  Speaker 4: increasingly crazy stuff.
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  Speaker 2: Right.
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  Speaker 4: That pleases him like he won the 2020 election. So
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  Speaker 4: it runs contrary to reality, which will ultimately be a
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  Speaker 4: problem for a press secretary and for the rest of
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  Speaker 4: us on Earth One.
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  Speaker 1: Well, let's come back here to Earth One, Eugene, and
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  Speaker 1: the work that it is that you and Laura do,
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  Speaker 1: which is if you know that this is the person
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  Speaker 1: you are contending with. And they have peddled lies and
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  Speaker 1: conspiracy theories in the very recent past. How does that
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  Speaker 1: change the nature of what you were attempting to do
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  Speaker 1: in that room and the work that goes into fact
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  Speaker 1: checking what it is that she is willing to repeat
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  Speaker 1: and to platform?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, because typically you would come in, you'd have the
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  Speaker 3: questions that you want answered, right? With this White House
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  Speaker 3: and with someone like Zechariah, you want to have your
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  Speaker 3: questions and then your own fact check ready for her answers, right?
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  Speaker 3: Like you can't trust that what she's going to say
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  Speaker 3: is anywhere close to the truth.
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  Speaker 2: And frankly, like Laura.
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  Speaker 3: Was kind of alluding to, anybody that stands behind that podium,
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  Speaker 3: you can barely trust that that is always going to stay,
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  Speaker 3: even for hours later, the stance of the administration, right?
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  Speaker 2: We have seen over and over again, where.
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  Speaker 3: President Trump has had someone out there and then they
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  Speaker 3: say something. Hours later, he says something that is the
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  Speaker 3: exact opposite of what they told the American people. So
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  Speaker 3: what we have done, right, as reporters, the reporters that
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  Speaker 3: want the truth, at least, what you have to do
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  Speaker 3: is figure out a way to get the information and
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  Speaker 3: then fact check it either on the fly while you're
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  Speaker 3: there talking to them or the way that you present
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  Speaker 3: it to the American people. Make sure it's clear that
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  Speaker 3: this is what the White House has said before. But
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  Speaker 3: that's not true.
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  Speaker 2: And that's changed the job of reporters.
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  Speaker 3: And I think, you know, all of us, as we're
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  Speaker 3: growing up and learning about journalism, it was always trust
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  Speaker 3: but verify.
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  Speaker 2: Now you have to verify first.
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  Speaker 3: And it's hard to trust the words that are coming
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  Speaker 3: out of the folks that work at the in this administration.
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  Speaker 3: And so sometimes it is not even useful to hear
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  Speaker 3: what she has to say because it's not going to
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  Speaker 3: be the truth. But the American people need that information
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  Speaker 3: so they know the lies.
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  Speaker 2: That are being peddled in their name and paid by
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  Speaker 2: with their money.
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  Speaker 1: Liz, this is all happening as we are waiting on
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  Speaker 1: a ruling on a long-term block of the White House
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  Speaker 1: press ban. From what we heard at the hearing last week,
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  Speaker 1: where does it seem like the judge is leaning on this?
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  Speaker 8: Well, it seems like the judge is poised to make
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  Speaker 8: this block permanent, to make sure that Trump cannot keep
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  Speaker 8: these news outlets out of the White House going forward.
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  Speaker 8: He extended the block on Trump's ban until today with
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  Speaker 8: an indication that he'll make a long-term ruling today. And
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  Speaker 8: there are a number of different constitutional grounds this judge
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  Speaker 8: could rule on. Initially, he cited due process. He noted
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  Speaker 8: that these news outlets, CNN and Politico, as well as MSNOW,
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  Speaker 8: did not get due process before they lost their access
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  Speaker 8: to the White House.
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  Speaker 1: And that was a problem.
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  Speaker 8: But there are also more substantive First Amendment grounds that
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  Speaker 8: are at issue here, including the question, is this viewpoint
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  Speaker 8: discrimination and is this retaliation for protected speech? I think
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  Speaker 8: the answer to both of those is yes. So there
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  Speaker 8: are ample grounds. on which the court could enter a
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  Speaker 8: permanent injunction that would require Trump to allow these media
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  Speaker 8: outlets to continue accessing the White House. And that may
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  Speaker 8: be one reason why you see him put somebody like
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  Speaker 8: Katie Zakaria in front of the press, because he wants
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  Speaker 8: to limit the damage that can be done in that
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  Speaker 8: briefing room with media outlets that may ask probing questions
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  Speaker 8: by putting somebody who really doesn't know very much in
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  Speaker 8: front of the press to answer their questions.
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  Speaker 2: Hey, it's Rachel.
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• 10:19
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• 10:20
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• 10:23
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• 10:27
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• 10:35
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• 10:43
  Speaker 2: Thanks.