Attorney General Todd Blanche repeatedly became irritated with ABC’s Martha Raddatz as she pressed him about President Donald Trump’s press ban at the White House.
Blanche’s interview on This week Sunday got off to a rocky start for the attorney general when Raddatz asked him to explain Trump’s rationale for banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico last week.
Blanche, 52, launched into a lengthy tirade about “one-sided media coverage,” even though the White House’s official justification for the ban is national security — a discrepancy that Raddatz was quick to point out.
“You’re saying it’s because of the way they report, that it has nothing to do with national security,” she said.
“I’m not saying it — no, I’m not saying it — I wasn’t talking about Air Force One,” Blanche responded, apparently flustered, before doubling down by asserting that the “total misinformation” reported about the White House amounts to a “national security issue.”
“It affects our relations with our foreign partners. It affects our relations with our foreign enemies,” said Trump’s former personal lawyer turned attorney general.
But Raddatz pointed out that District Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump appointee, rejected the Justice Department’s national security arguments when he ordered the Trump administration on Thursday to temporarily restore the credentials of the three banned media outlets.
She further noted that Trump “said nothing about national security” when he announced the ban, and observed: “Obviously you’re very interested in what the press says and how they say it.”
“Well, I…I’m not going to get into what the judge says, this litigation is ongoing,” Blanche responded. “But our position has been clear from the beginning. What they are saying is exactly the problem when it comes to national security.”
“Give us an example,” Raddatz interrupted, and the two began talking to each other.
“Wait, wait, wait. Give you an example when CNN…I’m sorry, wait,” Blanche said, speaking faster and raising her voice. “Give you an example of CNN not reporting accurately? You can’t ask me that!”
“There’s not even any real dispute that the information coming from CNN and some of these other networks is entirely and completely — almost 100 percent negative about the president,” he continued, conflating inaccurate reporting with negative reporting about Trump.
“The judge ruled that this was not based on national security…” Raddatz tried to move on, but an agitated Blanche interrupted her.
“The judge made a temporary order. It’s not final, the litigation is ongoing and I’m not going to talk about the details of what the judge said. It wouldn’t be fair,” Blanche cut in before reaffirming that “at some point, total disinformation, inaccuracy and one-sided reporting from certain organizations does indeed become a national security issue.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
He got even angrier when Raddatz asked, “So, are you saying you’re going to screen people before they board a flight? Go into the White House?” in reference to his earlier statements that Trump has “all the rights to decide who gets to ride on his plane.”
“I didn’t say that!” Blanche exclaimed. “No, no, I didn’t say that! You can’t put words in my mouth! You can’t put words in my mouth! That’s not how it works.”
“All right, you… you have the right to defend yourself there,” Raddatz said.
The two men had a final clash when Blanche asserted that it was the president’s “duty” to ensure that Americans heard accurate and unbiased information.
“But you heard what the president said,” Raddatz said. “‘They want to try to diminish Republicans and a Republican administration.’ It’s the president… who doesn’t talk about impartiality.
Sighing in frustration, Blanche responded, “You just picked seven words that the president said. The president talks about his concerns with a lot of these major media outlets. There are hours and hours and hours of quotes and statements about this. So for you to pick seven words and say, oh, that’s what the president means, that’s, that’s, that’s extraordinarily disingenuous, okay?”
“I think we can give other examples,” Raddatz said.
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