Trump bashes press; Spicer bars reporters
President criticizes use of unnamed sources shortly after aides demand anonymity
OXON HILL, MD. >> President Donald Trump unloaded on the news media Friday for using anonymous sources — just hours after members of his own staff insisted on briefing reporters only on condition their names be concealed.
Unleashing a line of attack that energized an enthusiastic crowd at the nation’s largest gathering of conservative activists, Trump said unethical reporters “make up stories and make up sources.”
“They shouldn’t be allowed to use sources unless they use somebody’s name,” he declared. “Let their name be put out there.”
Trump told the Conservative Political Action Conference that while not all reporters are bad, the “fake news” crowd “doesn’t represent the people. It will never represent the people, and we’re going to do something about it.”
Trump didn’t expand on what he had in mind or which news organizations he was talking about. But his broadsides represented an escalation of his running battle against the press, which he has taken to calling “the opposition party.” And later Friday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer barred CNN, The New York Times, Politico and the Los Angels Times from attending a briefing
in his office, the Times reported.
The Associated Press chose not to participate in that briefing because “the AP believes the public should have as much access to the president as possible,” said Lauren Easton, the news agency’s director of media relations.
The president, who in the 1990s posed as his own spokesman to plant flattering stories about himself in tabloids, has chafed at a number of anonymously sourced stories, including numerous reports describing contacts between his campaign advisers and Russian intelligence agents, which the White House has sharply disputed.
Members of his White House team regularly demand anonymity when talking to reporters, as was the case Friday morning when Trump officials briefed reporters on Chief of Staff Reince Priebus’ contact with top FBI officials concerning the Russia reports.
The Associated Press uses anonymous sources only if the material is factual information, not opinion or speculation, and is vital to the news report. And it must come from a person who is reliable and in a position to have accurate information.
Gregg Leslie, legal defense director for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said such arrangements are “essential to good reporting” in many cases.
“There are just some things that people will come forward about anonymously
that they cannot discuss openly,” Leslie said, citing potential threats to jobs and even personal safety.
All presidents have their moments of tension with the press, but Trump’s first weeks in office have brought a frontal attack unlike anything from any other president.
After his newest jibes, Trump turned his CPAC speech into a recitation of his top agenda items, promising bold action on health care, trade, immigration, energy and more. And he vowed to “build the wall” along the Mexican border.
“One by one, we’re checking off the promises we made to the American people,” he said, telling the group, “I will not disappoint you.”
He told the conservatives the health care law he inherited from President
Barack Obama threatens to bring about “total catastrophe,” reiterating his promise to repeal and replace it. On illegal immigration, he said that “as we speak today, immigration officers are finding gang members, drug dealers and criminal aliens and throwing them the hell out.”
He promised changes to the welfare system, saying, “It’s time for all Americans to get off welfare and get back to work,” adding that: “You’re going to love it.”
While conservatives aren’t always in sync with Trump’s views, they’re happy to have a scrapper in the White House who often takes their side.
“How good it feels to have somebody lead our country who knows how to fight,” American Conservative Union chairman Matt Schlapp told the crowd in introducing Trump.