Attorney General Todd Blanche pushes back on ABC News host Martha Raddatz’s ‘extraordinarily disingenuous’ comments about press freedom under Trump

(Daily Caller News Foundation) – Attorney General Todd Blanche defended President Donald Trump’s recent access restrictions on certain media outlets during a Sunday interview with ABC News.

Blanche and “This Week” host Martha Raddatz clashed over Trump’s Sept. 18 decision to deactivate White House press credentials for CNN, MS NOW, and POLITICO journalists ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Washington visit.

After claiming Blanche said CNN was denied access to Air Force One over national security concerns, Raddatz asked him, “What do you think the job of the press is? What does the First Amendment mean to you?”

“Well, what does it mean to me? What it means to me is not the issue. But what the law says, what the free press can do is they are free to report whatever they want. OK? Of course, they can. But when it comes to the White House, it is the People’s House. It is a privilege and not a right to be there,” Blanche replied.

“And what every American should expect is that when they are told something on any network or when they read something on the paper, that it even has a whiff of impartiality, that it even has a whiff of accuracy about what’s actually happening, and if that’s not happening, then there’s nothing— it is absolutely the president’s duty to make sure that the American people are hearing accurate news,” Blanche continued.

“It doesn‘t have to be good for the president,” Blanche added. “It doesn’t have to be everything’s positive about what’s happening in the administration. It has to be very accurate.”

“But you heard what the president said: ‘They want to try and diminish the Republicans and a Republican administration,’” Raddatz interjected, “That’s the president saying he‘s not talking about impartiality.”

“OK. You just picked out seven words the president said,” Blanche replied. “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.”

Raddatz responded, “I think we could give other examples,” before asking Blanche, “What will be the criteria to get on the White House grounds, in your view, or Air Force One, the Oval Office?”

“That is most certainly not my decision. So I’m not going to even begin to try to justify that question with an answer. But what I can tell you is what the president has said and what we have argued in court remains true,” Blanched replied. “What we expect— and it is for the protection of our country, so that when foreign leaders, when foreign governments, when citizens that are around the world hear what’s happening in the administration, that it happens to be accurate..”

“It doesn‘t have to be positive,” Blanche reiterated. “It doesn’t have to be something that just makes Republicans look good. But it has to be fair and balanced, and that’s what the president expects.”

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, a 2017 Trump appointee to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, ordered a 14-day pause on the ban Thursday after the three outlets sued the administration.

“OK, and the judge found that not to be true with the national security,” Raddatz argued before saying she’d like to change the topic to artificial intelligence “and also note as well that you let the Chinese press into the White House, and President Xi on Marine One.”

“When you say ‘you let,’ the White House— I didn’t let— the president— I did not let the Chinese journalists in,” Blanche interjected.

“The White House,” Raddatz replied.

“OK. All right. You got the last word. I hope we feel better now,” Blanche said. “The whole point is— I mean, you know, it’s not— this isn’t about whether the Chinese journalists got into the White House for the day when their president was here visiting. This is about a much bigger issue than that. You know that, and so do the American people.”