CNN chief media analyst Brian Stelter said Tuesday on “The Situation Room” that President Donald Trump has a “total lack of respect and understanding of the First Amendment in the United States.”
Co-host Wolf Blitzer said, “We also heard from President Trump just a little while ago, speaking with reporters on the South Lawn of the White House. Tell us about that.”
Stelter said, “He made it pretty dramatic threat toward an ABC reporter actually referring to ABC’s past settlement. There’s been this debate in recent hours about hate speech being free speech, with AG Pam Bondi suggesting that it is not. Trump was asked about that by ABC’s Jon Karl and here’s the exchange.”
Karl said, “What do you make of Pam Bondi saying she’s going to go after hate speech? Is that — I mean a lot of people a lot of your allies say hate speech is free speech.”
Trump said, “You should probably go after people like you because you treat me so unfairly It’s hate. You have a lot of hate in your heart. Maybe you come after ABC.”
Karl said, “Is that appropriate?”
Trump said, “ABC paid me $16 million recently for a form of hate speech. Right? Your company paid me $16 million for a form of hate speech. So maybe they’ll have to go after you.”
Stelter said, “Trump is speaking emotionally there, not legally, but his comments show a total lack of respect and understanding of the First Amendment in the United States. This is really about constitutional law. So telling a reporter, quote, maybe they’ll have to go after you is an abuse of power by the president. While it may seem like par for the course from Trump, we’ve heard his anti-press commentary for many years now, it is still notable today, and it’s part of the chill in the air, especially in the aftermath of the Kirk assassination.”
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