‘You Cannot Be Asking Me That!’: Trump’s AG Goes Nuclear On Live TV Over Press Ban
Attorney General Todd Blanche clashed with ABC’s Martha Raddatz after she grilled him over President Donald Trump’s decision to ban three major news outlets from accessing the White House.
Days after Trump announced the ban, the outlets — CNN, MS NOW and Politico — had their credentials reinstated on Thursday after a federal judge ruled that the administration had to restore White House access for journalists.
On Sunday’s “This Week,” Blanche claimed that Trump never “denied access” to the outlets and argued it is a privilege, not a right to be at the White House.
“You clearly think you had a strong case, but the temporary restraining order was granted,” Raddatz told Blanche. “The judge was skeptical of the argument the [Justice] Department made in court filings to defend this ban on the grounds of national security. He wrote, for one thing, ‘Nothing in the record that predates this suit suggests that the revocation of plaintiffs’ hard passes was motivated by national security concerns.’”
Raddatz argued to Blanche that Trump “said nothing about national security when he announced this ban,” and instead focused on an “alleged lack of truthfulness and negativity of plaintiffs’ reporting.”
Blanche responded, “I’m not going to get into what the judge says, that litigation’s ongoing. But our position has been clear from the beginning. What they say is exactly the issue when it comes to national security.”
Their conversation escalated after Raddatz pressed him to give an example.
“I’m sorry, wait, give you an example of when CNN doesn’t report accurately?!” Blanche exclaimed. “You cannot be asking me that! They don’t even disagree. There’s not even a real dispute that the information coming out of CNN and some of these other networks is wholly and completely, almost 100% negative toward the president.”
Raddatz replied, “The judge decided this was not based on national security.”
Blanche heatedly refused to discuss the specifics of what the judge said.
“That wouldn’t be right,” he continued. “What I’m talking about is the government’s position and what the Department of Justice said in court, which is the same thing that President Trump has said repeatedly, which is at some point, the complete misinformation and the inaccuracy and the one-sided news out of certain organizations does become a national security issue — and it’s not right for the people of the United States to have to put up with.”
The exchange ramped up again after Raddatz questioned whether Blanche was saying he would screen reporters before they get on Air Force One or enter the White House.
Cutting her off, Blanche retorted, “I did not say that! No, no, I did not say that! You don’t get to put words in my mouth! That’s not the way it works.”
“Fine, you have a right to defend yourself there,” she responded.
“I’m not defending myself! You said I said something that I didn’t say!” Blanche added.
After Raddatz asked him what the First Amendment means to him personally, Blanche dodged answering, telling her, “What it means to me is not the issue.”
Blanche said it’s “absolutely the president’s duty to make sure that the American people are hearing accurate news.”
“But you heard what the president said,” Raddatz replied. “‘They want to try and diminish the Republicans and a Republican administration.’ That’s the president…not talking about impartiality.”
“You just picked out seven words the president said,” Blanche contended. “The president talks about his concerns with a lot of these mainstream media outlets. There’s hours and hours and hours of quotes and statements about that. So for you to pick out seven words and say, ‘Oh, that’s what the president means,’ that’s extraordinarily disingenuous, OK? Everybody knows exactly what the president’s concern is.”
Watch the exchange below.