In these and many similar actions and decisions, President Donald J. Trump has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as President, and subversive of constitutional government, to the prejudice of the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States. Wherefore, President Donald J. Trump, by such conduct, is guilty of an impeachable offense warranting removal from office.(back to top)
16. Assaulting Freedom of the Press
In his conduct while President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, in violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty under Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution "to take care that the laws be faithfully executed," has repeatedly undermined the freedom of the press.
President Trump has threatened to use libel law to go after media outlets that have displeased him. On March 30, 2017, he tweeted: "The failing @nytimes has disgraced the media world. Gotten me wrong for two solid years. Change libel laws?" On April 30, 2017, his then chief of staff Reince Priebus confirmed that changing libel laws is "something we've looked at," adding that "newspapers and news agencies need to be more responsible with how they report the news." On July 2, 2017, President Donald J. Trump tweeted a video of himself body slamming a man with an image of "CNN" superimposed on him.
President Trump has threatened to remove broadcasting licenses from media outlets that have displeased him. On October 11, 2017, he tweeted: ''With all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!'' and ''Network news has become so partisan, distorted and fake that licenses must be challenged and, if appropriate, revoked. Not fair to public!''
President Trump's White House, on February 24, 2017, barred certain news media CNN, the New York Times, the L.A. Times, and Politico from attending a White House press briefing. In June 2017, his administration prohibited video recordings of White House press briefings. In November 2018, his administration suspended the press credential of CNN correspondent Jim Acosta, falsely accusing him of "placing his hands" on a white house intern.
President Trump has repeatedly referred to news media as "the enemy of the people," while expressing his desire that journalistic activity be stifled. For example: On February 17, 2017, Trump tweeted: ''The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!''. On July 22, 2017, Trump tweeted: "A new INTELLIGENCE LEAK from the Amazon Washington Post,this time against A.G. Jeff Sessions.These illegal leaks, like Comey's, must stop!"
President Trump's rhetoric has encouraged authoritarian foreign governments to attack the very U.S. media that Trump criticizes, endangering not only press freedoms but the lives and safety of American journalists. On May 2, 2017, just ahead of World Press Freedom Day, the Committee to Protect Journalists noted that "President Trump's oft-tweeted 'fake news' epithet, for example, had already been adopted by repressive governments such as China, Syria, and Russia. When Trump verbally attacked a correspondent during a February press conference, he was cheered by Turkey President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan, the world's worst jailer of journalists.
When Saudi Arabia murdered U.S./Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, President Trump made extensive efforts to deny the evidence and to prevent or minimize the consequences to the Saudi government, even while continuing his usual verbal attacks on U.S. journalists.
President Trump's subordinates locked up U.S./Iranian journalist Marzieh Hashemi with no charges or trial as a "material witness."
President Trump's Department of Justice has indicted Australian publisher Julian Assange for unknown charges, after spending months trying to figure out some way to prosecute him for the act of journalism.
President Trump has nominated for U.S. Attorney General William Barr, who stated at his confirmation hearings that he might jail journalists for doing their job if that job "hurt the country."
Freedom of the press is enshrined in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. As Justice Black observed in New York Times Co. v. United States, "In the First Amendment the Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to fulfill its essential role in our democracy. The press was to serve the governed, not the governors. The Government's power to censor the press was abolished so that the press would remain forever free to censure the Government. The press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of government and inform the people. Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government."
A president is certainly free to criticize particular news stories and outlets that he believes are inaccurate and no above-cited tweet or statement, standing in isolation, would constitute an impeachable offense. However, President Trump's consistent pattern of verbal attacks against journalists and his administration's actions to retaliate against and exclude journalists, combined with threats to take governmental action against news outlets, crosses a line.
In the above and many similar actions and decisions, President Donald J. Trump has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as President, and subversive of constitutional government, to the prejudice of the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States. Wherefore, President Donald J. Trump, by such conduct, is guilty of an impeachable offense warranting removal from office.(back to top)
17. Supporting a Coup in Venezuela
In his conduct while President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, in violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty under Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution "to take care that the laws be faithfully executed,"
And in his conduct while Vice President of the United States, Michael Richard Pence, in violation of his oath to faithfully execute the office of Vice President of the United States and to support and defend the Constitution of the United States,
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