Bondi’ s justification? The Justice Department“ will not tolerate unauthorized disclosures that undermine President Trump’ s policies, victimize government agencies, and cause harm to the American people.”
Did you catch that? Not disclosures that threaten national security, but those that“ undermine President Trump’ s policies.” Since when did the President’ s policies become sacred and beyond scrutiny? Since when did exposing wrongdoing by our government become a crime against“ the American people”?
Throughout our history, ethical government officials who leaked information to the press have been essential to maintaining our democracy. They’ ve exposed corruption, illegal wars, and unconstitutional surveillance, and in many cases they’ ve paid a heavy price for their courage.
Take my old friend and correspondent Daniel Ellsberg, perhaps America’ s most famous whistleblower. In 1971, Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers, exposing how multiple presidents had systematically lied to the American people about the Vietnam War. He believed the documents contained“ evidence of a quarter century of aggression, broken treaties, deceptions, stolen elections, lies and murder.” His brave act helped change public opinion and ultimately contributed to ending that disastrous war.
When Ellsberg released the Pentagon Papers, the Nixon administration tried to
block their publication. The Supreme Court ruling in New York Times Co. v. United States upholding the press’ s right to publish has been called one of the“ modern pillars” of First Amendment rights with respect to freedom of the press.
That same Nixon administration that tried to silence Ellsberg created the infamous“ White House Plumbers” unit to stop leaks, which later led directly to the Watergate scandal and Nixon’ s downfall.
History shows that when presidents attack whistleblowers and the press, they’ re usually trying to hide their own misdeeds. And it sure feels like that’ s exactly what Bondi and Trump are now up to.
In more recent history, we’ ve seen Edward Snowden expose the NSA’ s mass surveillance programs and Chelsea Manning reveal troubling military actions, including the killing of civilians. Both were driven by their conviction that the American people deserved to know about government overreach and misconduct.
The Founders understood that a democracy cannot function without an informed citizenry, and citizens cannot be informed without a free press that can hold the powerful accountable. That’ s why they enshrined press freedom in the First Amendment; they knew from bitter experience that power corrupts, and that the powerful will always seek to hide their corruption.
A free press serves as our early warning
The Trial Lawyer 85