While Fox's Laura Ingraham helped Donald Trump posture as a champion of the free press, she also helped his unofficial attorney, Joseph diGenova, promote a desire for prosecuting reporters
On The Ingraham Angle last night, host Laura Ingraham made it clear she intended to weaponize the arrest of a Senate intelligence staffer, as well as his relationship with a New York Times reporter, to help Trump undermine the Russia investigation. But unofficial Trump attorney diGenova took it a step further when he suggested reporters should be prosecuted.
Ingraham used the arrest to delegitimize the Russia investigation right in her introduction:
INGRAHAM: There’s reporting tonight that there was an effort by this Senate Intel staffer to purposely target Carter Page. That’s a move that could have been instrumental in starting this entire probe into the Trump presidency.
Instead of considering what information the staffer might have had on Page, Ingraham played a clip of Trump claiming he’s a “big, big believer in freedom of the press." He added, "But I’m also a believer in classified information – has to remain classified – and that includes Comey and his band of thieves who leak classified information all over the place.”
Predictably, Ingraham didn’t mention that Trump lied (or showed stunning ignorance) when he claimed Comey leaked classified information. More importantly, she failed to tell viewers that Trump has leaked “highly classified” information to Russia. She also “forgot” that Trump has a long record of attacking the press and has called for reporters to be jailed.
Instead, she validated Trump’s smear of the FBI by saying, “Band of thieves! Now that’s what they are,” with a laugh. Then she moved on to “ask” her guests how the administration’s “crackdown” was different from what the Obama administration did when it pursued former Fox reporter James Rosen. Transcript excerpt below via Media Matters (with my emphases):
INGRAHAM: Is this—the White House now says for freedom of the press, but now the DOJ is going after this poor reporter.
DIGENOVA: Yeah, well, I am all for it. I think they should go after the reporters, and I hope they are doing the same thing with the leaks of the private conversations that President Trump had with foreign leaders that were leaked by somebody at the NSA or the CIA. This is perfectly legitimate tactics.
At least this administration didn’t label the reporter a criminal co-conspirator like [Obama's administration] did with James Rosen. That was outrageous. This is perfectly legitimate stuff, and if a guy wants to leak classified information to a reporter, he should be held accountable for it. By the way, Carter Page has got a new defendant for his civil suit, and it’s the guy who was the head of security for the intelligence committee.
[...]
BYRON YORK: We should point out the reporter is not suspected of any wrongdoing.
INGRAHAM: Not yet.
Although he was introduced merely as “former U.S. attorney for D.C.,” diGenova is really a shadow attorney for Trump. Politico explains how diGenova and wife Victoria Toensing pose as independent pundits while working in service to Trump:
Appearing on a Baltimore radio station in early April, diGenova said he and his wife [Victoria Toensing] were “playing the role of lawyers on television and in real life” for Trump, whom they informally advise.
[…]
Both lawyers enjoy an open line to Trump: Toensing successfully lobbied the president in April to pardon her client Scooter Libby, a former Bush White House aide convicted on several counts related to the 2003 leak of CIA agent’s identity. But they downplay the notion they’re giving Trump direct advice on the Russia probe. “The only way he’s going to hear what I’m going to tell you is he’s tuned in, and I’m sure he is,” she told MSNBC in May.
In interviews, both Giuliani and [Trump attorney Jay] Sekulow said they’ve come to lean on Toensing and diGenova as both campaign-style surrogates and outside advisers — consulting with them about their cable show appearances and monitoring one another’s media hits.
Watch diGenova send a signal to Trump to go after the press below, from the June 8, 2018 The Ingraham Angle, via Media Matters.
’Nuff said.
When this miserable epoch of our history is finished, the enablers like Ingraham will not be able to walk back their behavior. They’ll have to own up to their hypocrisy and viciousness in the public square.