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'Corruption. Plain and Simple': Ginni Thomas Took Secret Payments Ahead of Landmark Voting Rights Case
"When you're saying things like 'No mention of Ginni, of course' when talking about paperwork for the wife of a Supreme Court Justice—you're probably doing a crime."
May 05, 2023
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife Ginni Thomas are under fresh scrutiny as yet another revelation, this one reported by the Washington Post on Thursday evening shows Ginni received tens of thousands of dollars in off-the-book compensation from a powerful right-wing nonprofit shortly before the group "soon would have an interest before the court"—a pivotal voting rights case.
Based on documents reviewed by the Post, right-wing judicial activist Leonard Leo used his role as an advisor to the nonprofit, the Judicial Education Project, to ask GOP pollster Kellyanne Conway, later a top aide to President Donald Trump, to pay Ginni Thomas a large sum but keep her name off the financial records.
"Leo, a key figure in a network of nonprofits that has worked to support the nominations of conservative judges," the reporting explains, "told Conway that he wanted her to 'give' Ginni Thomas 'another $25K,' the documents show. He emphasized that the paperwork should have 'No mention of Ginni, of course.'"
"Leonard Leo has written the definition of court corruption. These shady schemes are a call to action to bring about ethics reform at the highest levels of the judiciary." —Kyle Herrig, Accountable.US
In response to the new revelations, Kyle Herrig, president of the public interest advocacy group Accountable.US, said "Leonard Leo has written the definition of court corruption. These shady schemes are a call to action to bring about ethics reform at the highest levels of the judiciary."
In defense of the secrecy of the payments to Ginni Thomas's firm—which according to the Post totaled $80,000 between June 2011 and June 2012, but may have been more overall—Leo said in a statement to the newspaper that it was necessary to keep her name out of any disclosures because of how "disrespectful, malicious and gossipy people" can be in the political sphere.
"I have always tried to protect the privacy of Justice Thomas and Ginni," Leo claimed.
"Each day that passes, the Supreme Court is looking less like a bench and more like an auction house. Thomas should resign immediately..." —Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Crucially, months after these payments were made to Ginni Thomas, the Judicial Education Project filed an amicus brief in the case Shelby County v. Holder, taking the side of those opposed to a key provision in the Voting Rights Act of 1965. As the Post notes:
The court struck down a formula in the Voting Rights Act that determined which states had to obtain federal clearance before changing their voting rules and procedures. Clarence Thomas was part of the 5-to-4 majority.
Thomas issued a concurring opinion in the case, arguing that the preclearance requirement itself is unconstitutional. Thomas's opinion, which was consistent with a previous opinion he wrote, favored the outcome the Judicial Education Project and several other conservative organizations had advocated in their amicus briefs. He did not cite the Judicial Education Project brief.
But progressive political observers said the corruption was impossible not to see—especially given the wave of revelations about lavish gifts and financial arrangements between Justice Thomas and billionaire Harlan Crow, a right-wing mega-donor.
"This is corruption. Plain and simple," said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) in reaction to the latest revelation. "And each day that passes, the Supreme Court is looking less like a bench and more like an auction house. Thomas should resign immediately and Roberts should see to it that he does."
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Congress Pushed to Pass Fix After Watchdog Finds 13 Ex-Officials Illegally Campaigned for Trump
"Senior Trump administration officials showed an open contempt for the law meant to protect the American people from the use of taxpayer resources and government power for partisan politics."
Nov 09, 2021
As federal investigators announced Tuesday that at least 13 senior Trump administration officials violated the Hatch Act--a key law restricting campaign activities by government employees--a leading ethics advocacy group responded by calling on Congress to pass the Protecting Our Democracy Act.
"There are significant enforcement challenges to enforcing the Hatch Act. Legislation like the Protecting Our Democracy Act would fix that."
In a 59-page report, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) said the Trump administration exhibited a "willful disregard for the Hatch Act" that was "especially pernicious considering the timing of when many of these violations took place."
"The report outlines how the 13 officials used their official authority or influence to interfere with or affect the result of the 2020 presidential election," OSC said in a statement. "Taken together, the report concludes that the violations demonstrate both a willingness by some in the Trump administration to leverage the power of the executive branch to promote President [Donald] Trump's reelection and the limits of OSC's enforcement power."
Noah Bookbinder, president of the government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington (CREW), said in a statement Tuesday that "this report confirms that there was nothing less than a systematic co-opting of the powers of the federal government to keep Donald Trump in office. Senior Trump administration officials showed an open contempt for the law meant to protect the American people from the use of taxpayer resources and government power for partisan politics."
The 13 former Trump administration officials named in the OSC report are: Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette, senior presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway, White House Communications Director Alyssa Farah, U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, Trump senior adviser Jared Kushner, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, White House adviser Stephen Miller, White House Deputy Press Secretary Brian Morgenstern, National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence Marc Short, and Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf.
"In each of these instances, senior administration officials used their official authority or influence to campaign for President Trump," the report states. "Based upon the Trump administration's reaction to the violations, OSC concludes that the most logical inference is that the administration approved of these taxpayer-funded campaign activities."
Violations include Pompeo addressing the 2020 Republican National Convention live from Jerusalem, Wolf administering oaths to newly naturalized U.S. citizens in a broadcast during the convention, and Conway, Miller, and others promoting Trump's reelection during television appearances.
It was an especially rough day for McEnany and Miller, who were also served subpoenas Tuesday by a congressional committee investigating the deadly January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
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The OSC investigation also found that presidential adviser Ivanka Trump violated the Hatch Act by using her Twitter account "for substantial official government activity and also to promote numerous candidates for partisan political office."
"However," it added, "the lack of any regulations or examples addressing the use of social media accounts for political activity," and the fact that the former president's eldest daughter used her personal Twitter profile, kept her off the list of 13 violators.
The report lists "statutory amendment" as a possible way to overcome significant barriers to enforcement enumerated in the paper. Proponents argue the Protecting Our Democracy Act--a measure introduced by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and backed by over 150 groups that would prevent future presidential abuses of power, restore checks and balances, and protect elections from foreign interference--would do just that.
"OSC notes that there are significant enforcement challenges to enforcing the Hatch Act," said Bookbinder. "Legislation like the Protecting Our Democracy Act would fix that. Congress must act now so that this never happens again."
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Ocasio-Cortez to Kellyanne Conway: 'Don't Let the Fascist Victim Complex Hit You on the Way Out'
Former President Donald Trump's senior adviser refused to resign from the U.S. Air Force Academy's advisory board.
Sep 08, 2021
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined left-leaning politicians and pundits Wednesday who took swipes at Kellyanne Conway after the former senior adviser to ex-President Donald Trump said she would not comply with a Biden administration request to resign from the U.S. Air Force Academy's advisory board.
"Clinging onto vestiges of power against the people's will is kind of your/Trump's/ the GOP's thing."
--Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
The White House Office of Presidential Personnel sent letters on Wednesday to Trump appointees on advisory boards at the U.S. Military Academy, U.S. Naval Academy, and U.S. Air Force Academy requesting their resignations. Such advisory board terms normally last three years.
According to Military Times, those asked to step down include Conway, former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, and former National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster.
Current White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Wednesday that President Joe Biden's "objective is what any president's objective is... to ensure you have nominees and people serving on these boards who are qualified to serve on them and who are aligned with your values."
"I will let others evaluate whether they think Kellyanne Conway and Sean Spicer and others were qualified or not... to serve on these boards," Psaki added.
A defiant Conway took to Twitter to share a letter she wrote to Biden rejecting the administration's resignation request.
"I'm not resigning, but you should," she wrote, noting that the "request is a break from presidential norms."
Responding to Conway's intransigence, Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) called the actions of the former Trump aide--with whom she frequently sparred--"predictable."
"When you're fired, don't let the fascist victim complex hit you on the way out," she quipped.
Conway's objection to Biden's departure from "presidential norms" drew squalls of laughter from some left-leaning observers. In a Harry Potter reference, Rantt Media co-founder Ahmed Baba, who chronicled every day of the Trump administration, tweeted that "seeing Kellyanne Conway complain about a 'break from presidential norms' is like seeing Bellatrix Lestrange complain about people using dark magic."
"Bruh," added Baba, "you were working for Voldemort for years."
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'It Need Not Be Jail... But Get Her Out of the White House': Groups Celebrate Call by Govt Watchdog for Trump to Fire Kellyanne Conway Over Repeated Ethics Violations
"Her actions," said the office of the Special Counsel, "erode the principle foundation of our democratic system—the rule of law."
Jun 13, 2019
The firing of Kellyanne Conway, one of President Donald Trump's most loyal and longest-serving top White House aides, was recommended on Thursday by an internal government watchdog who said her blatant and repeated violation of the Hatch Act--which bars government employees from making political statements while operating in their official capacities--made a mockery of the statute.
"It need not be jail, as Conway has belittlingly said, but get her out of the White House."
--Lisa Gilbert, Public Citizen
According to CBS News, "The Office of the Special Counsel--the ethics office for the White House, which is unrelated to former special counsel Robert Mueller--sent a report to the president Thursday finding that Conway had violated the act 'on numerous occasions' by criticizing Democratic presidential candidates in TV interviews and on social media. While the president and vice president are exempt from the Hatch Act, that privilege does not extend to federal employees."
In the letter sent to Trump by the OCS, Special Counsel Henry J. Kerner stated that "as a highly visible member of the Administration, Ms. Conway's violations, if left unpunished, send a message to all federal employees that they need not abide by the Hatch Act's restrictions. Her actions erode the principle foundation of our democratic system--the rule of law."
The OSC probe into Conway's comments and behavior came in response to a pair of complaints filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) in October 2018 and May 2019. In a statement on Thursday, CREW's executive director Noah Bookbinder said he was glad to see the OSC take such a forceful position on the violations.
"Conway's repeated violations and publicly expressed disdain for the law show a dangerous disregard for governmental ethics, the rule of law and the long-held understanding that government officials should not use their official positions to advance partisan politics," Bookbinder said. "We join OSC in calling for Kellyanne Conway to be removed from federal service and expect today's findings to send a strong message to officials across the Trump Administration and the federal government that these violations will not be taken lightly."
The advocacy group Public Citizen was also among those to quickly endorse Kerner's recommendation that Conway be dismissed.
"The OSC has stepped up and made crystal clear the inappropriate nature of a White House employee defying the law in plain sight," said Lisa Gilbert, vice president of legislative affairs for the group, in a statement. "Conway must be removed and face consequences for her actions."
Conway, Gilbert added, "is making a mockery of our laws and is taunting those who are charged with enforcing standards of conduct for federal employees, and so should face appropriate legal consequences. It need not be jail, as Conway has belittlingly said, but get her out of the White House."
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'Just Surreal': Trump Denies Ever Making the $1 Million Bet With Elizabeth Warren He Made on National Television
"Trump lies literally a hundred times a week and yet he's set the narrative here that Warren is somehow the untrustworthy one."
Oct 15, 2018
After spending months mocking Sen. Elizabeth Warren's (D-Mass.) claim that she has Native American ancestry and demanding that she prove it, President Donald Trump feigned ignorance on Monday when confronted with the fact that the senator had taken a DNA test confirming that she has an ancestor who was Native American.
On the White House lawn, the president was asked about his reaction to Warren's test, which revealed that one of her ancestors, likely from six to 10 generations ago, was a Native American.
"Who cares?" Trump replied hastily.
When pressed about the $1 million Trump publicly offered to give to the charity of Warren's choice if she produced DNA evidence of her family background, the president flatly denied making the offer--despite widely-available footage of him doing so on July 5 at a rally in Great Falls, Montana.
"I didn't say that," Trump told a reporter. "No, you'd better read it again."
To clear up any confusion, a number of journalists and critics posted the president's remarks from July on social media.
The White House has backed up Trump's attacks on Warren in recent months, with Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders saying last November that Warren's so-called "lies" about her ancestry "to advance her career" were more offensive than the president's insistence on calling the senator "Pocahontas."
But on Monday one of Trump's top advisers, Kellyanne Conway, appeared to deny that a controversy over Warren's heritage had ever taken place, calling the test the president had specifically asked the senator to take "junk science."
"I haven't looked at the test," Conway told reporters. "I know everybody likes to pick their junk science and sound science depending on the conclusion it seems some days, but I haven't looked at the DNA test and it really doesn't interest me to be frank with you."
The White House's especially brazen denialism was slammed by several critics on social media.
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Comedian Michelle Wolf Delivers 'Scathing' Roast of Trump and His Cronies at Correspondents' Dinner
"She heaped irreverent contempt on D.C. power centers because that's what good comedians do," remarked Glenn Greenwald
Apr 29, 2018
At the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday night, comedian Michelle Wolf roasted President Donald Trump and members of his administration in what's been described as a "scathing" speech.
In a series of tweets, journalist Glenn Greenwald criticized the event but commended Wolf for her comedy routine, declaring that she "was hilarious & struck exactly the right tone from start to finish. She heaped irreverent contempt on D.C. power centers because that's what good comedians do (& they deserve it)."
Wolf cracked jokes about the president's lawyer paying off a porn star to keep quiet about an alleged affair ("It's 2018 and I am a woman, so you cannot shut me up--unless you have Michael Cohen wire me $130,000") and Trump's disputed financial troubles ("Trump is so broke...He looked for foreign oil in Don Jr.'s hair").
She said she wanted to address Democrats too, but "Democrats are harder to make fun of because you guys don't do anything."
Her routine also featured jabs at the corporate news media: "There's a ton of news right now; a lot is going on, and we have all these 24-hour news networks, and we could be covering everything. But, instead, we're covering like three topics. Every hour, it's Trump, Russia, Hillary and a panel of four people who remind you why you don't go home for Thanksgiving."
Watch Wolf's complete remarks:
Wolf's speech--particularly the portion targeting the women of the Trump administration--triggered a slew of sharp headlines on Sunday. In response, Greenwald challenged claims that the dinner should not include attacks of the D.C. elite, tweeting:
Journalists John Nichols and Paul Farhi noted the state of the news media in the Trump era, about which Wolf said: "You guys are obsessed with Trump. ...He's helped you sell your papers and your books and your TV. You helped create this monster and now you're profiting off of him."
Wolf also slammed Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president, and White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders for being dishonest with the American public.
"Man, she has the perfect last name for what she does: Conway. It's like if my name was Michelle Jokes Frizzy Hair Small Tits," Wolf said, adding: "You guys gotta stop putting Kellyanne on your shows. All she does is lie."
Of Sanders, Wolf said:
And, of course, we have Sarah Huckabee Sanders. We're graced with Sarah's presence tonight. I have to say I'm a little star-struck. I love you as Aunt Lydia in "The Handmaid's Tale." Mike Pence, if you haven't seen it, you would love it.
Every time Sarah steps up to the podium, I get excited because I'm not really sure what we're going to get: you know, a press briefing, a bunch of lies or divided into softball teams. "It's shirts and skins, and this time, don't be such a little bitch, Jim Acosta."
I actually really like Sarah. I think she's very resourceful. Like, she burns facts, and then she uses the ash to create a perfect smoky eye. Like, maybe she's born with it; maybe it's lies. It's probably lies.
And I'm never really sure what to call Sarah Huckabee Sanders. You know, is it Sarah Sanders? Is Sarah Huckabee Sanders? Is it Cousin Huckabee? Is it Auntie Huckabee Sanders? Like, what's Uncle Tom but for white women who disappoint other white women? Oh, I know: Aunt Coulter.
While Wolf's comments that were perceived as attacks on the women's physical appearances garnered intense criticism, some were quick to come to her defense.
Jessica Valenti, who writes about women's rights, tweeted:
The New Yorker's television critic Emily Nussbaum broke down the remarks about Sanders in a series of tweets:
Wolf even took to Twitter on Sunday to confirm that her comments were about Sanders' "despicable behavior."
The Washington Post published a full transcript of Wolf's speech.
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Despite Multiple and Credible Sexual Abuse Allegations, Roy Moore Still Leading in Alabama Race
Denying accusations, Moore instead blamed "the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender" and the "socialists who want to change our way of life and put man above God" for the controversy that's erupted around his campaign this month
Nov 29, 2017
While media personalities including Matt Lauer, Charlie Rose, and Harvey Weinstein were all fired in recent weeks after allegations of sexual assault and misconduct, new polls reveal that Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore has been undeterred in the race to fill Alabama's vacant seat despite multiple accounts of his sexual abuse of teenagers and other allegations of sexual misconduct--and was in fact ahead in three different polls as of Thursday.
In surveys taken by Emerson College, JMC Analytics, and WRBC-TV in Birmingham, Alabama, between November 14 and 28, Moore was found to be up by two to six points against his Democratic opponent, Doug Jones.
As Ben Mathis-Lilley sarcastically put it at Slate, "Moore Surging in Polls Because Apparently Being Credibly Accused of Sex Crimes Only Matters for Like a Week."
Moore experienced a temporary dip in polls after an Alabama woman named Leigh Corfman came forward with allegations, corroborated by several sources who spoke to the Washington Post, that Moore molested her when she was 14 and he was a 32-year-old assistant district attorney.
The recent polls were taken just after a second woman, Beverly Young Nelson, shared an account of Moore locking her in a car and sexually assaulting her when she was 16.
Reports also surfaced that Moore was banned from a shopping mall in Gadsden, Alabama in the 1980s due to his proclivity for "badgering teenage girls." A retired police officer from Gadsden told reporters that she was instructed to watch Moore at high school sports games and "make sure that he wouldn't hang around the cheerleaders."
Moore has denied the allegations, claiming on Wednesday in a speech he gave at a Baptist church that "liberals"--including "the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender who want to change our culture" and the "socialists who want to change our way of life and put man above God"--are behind the women's accusations in an attempt to defeat him.
While Republicans including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) have said they believe the accounts of Moore's sexual abuse, the Trump administration has pledged its support for the Republican candidate.
In a move that's being investigated as a possible violation of the Hatch Act, presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway said on Fox News last week that Alabama voters should support Moore over Jones because "we want the votes in the Senate to get this tax bill through."
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) reports that the Republican tax plan would raise taxes on 309,000 families in Alabama and eliminate health coverage for 183,000 people in the state. "Forty-eight percent of the federal tax cuts would go to the richest five percent of residents," according to ITEP.
On social media, critics expressed shock at Roy Moore's solid chance at winning against Jones, who by contrast prosecuted two Ku Klux Klan members who bombed a church in Birmingham in 1963, killing four young girls.
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#KellyCards: Twitter Users Go Crazy With Kellyanne Conway's 'Unreal' Flashcards
"Surely this is what Twitter was invented for."
Jul 13, 2017
In an interview on Fox News Wednesday night, presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway used flash cards to deny allegations that the Trump administration has colluded with Russia.
"This is to help all the people at home," Conway said, holding up her props. "What's the conclusion? Collusion? No. We don't have that yet. I see illusion and delusion."
Critics characterized the performance as "full Sesame Street," and Twitter users quickly seized upon the golden Photoshop opportunity.
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Trump's Midnight Dump of Ethics Waivers Should End "Drain the Swamp Illusion"
Former lobbyists from some of the most contentious industries under Trump are given the freedom to influence policy making in those very same arenas
Jun 01, 2017
Candidate Donald Trump's pledge to "drain the swamp" was apparently made with a slew of caveats, which were exposed late Wednesday when the White House posted details of ethics waivers granted to at least 16 senior staff members.
Among the notice (pdf), which detailed 14 different waived ethics rules, are provisions granting lobbyists from some of the most contentious industries the freedom to influence policy making in those very same arenas.
Michael Catanzaro, a former lobbyist for the oil and gas industry, was granted approval to work on "energy and environmental policy issues" including the Clean Power Plan, the Waters of the United States rule, and other environmental regulations, Politico's Josh Gerstein reported.
Tax policy adviser Shahira Knight, who previously served as an executive at Fidelity Investments, was given approval to deal with "tax, retirement, and financial services issues," despite the fact that "she'd previously lobbied on those topics," as Gerstein noted.
Another waiver was granted to Andrew Olmem, who now serves as a special assistant to the president for financial policy after years of lobbying the government on behalf of a number of financial and insurance firms. His waiver allows for him to work on a variety of finance-related issues.
"The ethics waivers the White House finally released reveal what we already suspected: that this administration is chock full of senior officials working on issues on which they lobbied, meeting with companies in which they have a financial interest, or working closely with former employers," said Noah Bookbinder, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).
"Looks like the end of the drain the swamp illusion," the pro-transparency group quipped on Twitter following the late-night data release.
While some waivers were granted to specific senior staff members, such as senior spokesperson Kellyanne Conway and White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, others are more broad.
For instance, one alleging to be a blanket, retroactive waiver allows all Trump appointees to "participate in communications and meetings with news organizations regarding broad policy matters," which was seemingly issued to address conflicts with chief strategist Steve Bannon maintaining relations with Breitbart News.
However, as CREW observed, a retroactive ethics waiver is "only an admission of guilt."
What's more, attorneys formerly with the law firm Jones Day, including White House counselor Don McGahn, were issued permits allowing them to discuss matters with the firm related to Trump and his presidential campaign, which is currently facing allegations of election meddling.
The waivers reveal an extensive effort to work around Trump's own January executive order which barred members of the executive branch for two years from participating in matters or with parties "directly and substantially related to [a] former employer or former clients, including regulations and contracts."
And as many pointed out, it took just months for Trump to issue as many ethics waivers as former President Barack Obama did over his entire two terms in office.
"No one has believed for months that this president or his administration had any interest in ethics, but these waivers make clear the remarkable extent to which they are comfortable mixing their own personal interests with the country's," Bookbinder added. "It's no wonder they waited for the cover of night to release them."
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Alternative "Facts" and the Fourth Estate
Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Trump, famously coined the Orwellian phrase "alternative facts" when pressed about flat out lies told the previous day by White House press secretary Sean Spicer regarding the crowd size at President Donald Trump's inauguration.
The dictionary definition of a "fact" is a piece of information presented as having an objective reality. Accordingly, the term "alternative fact" is itself is an oxymoron. A fact is both indisputable and immutable. Having "alternatives" to a fact undermines its very meaning.
Feb 16, 2017
Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Trump, famously coined the Orwellian phrase "alternative facts" when pressed about flat out lies told the previous day by White House press secretary Sean Spicer regarding the crowd size at President Donald Trump's inauguration.
The dictionary definition of a "fact" is a piece of information presented as having an objective reality. Accordingly, the term "alternative fact" is itself is an oxymoron. A fact is both indisputable and immutable. Having "alternatives" to a fact undermines its very meaning.
These semantic gymnastics are compounded by Trump's fundamental and alarming misunderstanding of the role of the three branches of government and the media. The attempt by the Executive branch to recast the role of the media as the mouthpiece of the administration is dangerous. The media is the government's watchdog, not its lap dog.
Sources and whistleblowers will be more important than ever in a Trump administration as the "facts" presented at White House press conferences stray farther and farther from the truth. Some of this misinformation may seem objectively harmless, like inflating the number of people who attended the President's inauguration. But other facts are of historical import; for example, the botched U.S. commando raid in Yemen--the first ordered by President Trump--resulted in the death of innocent women and children. The White House persisted in calling the raid a successful operation.
Trump's antipathy for the media is hard to understand, given that Trump is himself a creation and creature of the media, and his election is due in large measure to its hype. Perhaps the media bears some responsibility in being too slow to stand up for whistleblowers and sources, compounded by its eagerness to grant anonymity and credibility to government officials during the Obama administration. But, now, the media must embrace its role as an aggressive monitor of the Executive branch, and that role must include robust protection for non-official sources and whistleblowers.
Given the Obama administration's unfortunate legacy of prosecuting whistleblowers under the Espionage Act, arguing against a legally-protected privilege between reporters and sources, and enacting workplace surveillance policies like the Insider Threat Program, the stage is set for a president like Trump to use and expand these chilling tools to quash the truth and spread falsehoods about critical matters of national security.
The Trump White House has been plagued by leaks, but seepage from the apparent chaos in the West Wing is not the only source the public will need. The U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies claim vast surveillance and operational powers, including the power to capture, interrogate, and kill suspected terrorists. When the President so readily spreads false propagandist narratives, investigative journalists and their sources must forcefully embrace their role as the "Fourth Estate."
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