Government & Communications

House Republicans have launched a new website that slams the media for focusing on "chaos" instead of what they see as a productive first 200 days. The website, "Did You Know," claims that media coverage doesn’t focus on the issues important to Americans. It also calls out the press for not writing more about the legislative achievements of the House GOP.

“House Republicans aren't distracted by the newest countdown clock on cable news or partisan sniping in Washington, D.C.,” the website reads. “You don’t care about those things. You care about finding a good job, taking care of your family, and achieving the American Dream, and so do we.” It comes as President Donald Trump hits his 200th day in office. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) had set the 200th day as a bigger marker for Republicans than Trump's first 100 days.

When President Donald Trump ordered federal agencies to form teams to dismantle government regulations, the Transportation Department turned to people with deep industry ties. The lack of transparency has concerned several top Democratic members of Congress who serve on committees that oversee regulatory matters.

In a letter to the White House on Aug 7, they called on the administration to release the names of all regulatory team members as well as documents relating to their potential conflicts of interest. The congressmen cited a recent investigation by ProPublica and The New York Times revealing that members of the deregulation teams have included lawyers who represented businesses in cases against government regulators, staff members of political dark money groups and employees of industry-funded organizations opposed to environmental rules. Since the publication of that investigation in July, the news organizations have identified more than a dozen other appointees through interviews, public records and reader tips — including the three appointees to the deregulation team at the Transportation Department. In all, there are now 85 known current and former team members, including 34 with potential conflicts. At least two of the appointees may be positioned to profit if certain regulations are undone and at least four were registered to lobby the agencies they now work for.

[Commentary] President Donald Trump is again attacking the media Aug 7, and his broadsides carry a newly ominous edge: He is both faulting the media for allegedly downplaying the size and intensity of support from his base and accusing them of trying to deliberately weaken that support for him. "The Trump base is far bigger & stronger than ever before (despite some phony Fake News polling). Look at rallies in Penn, Iowa, Ohio......" "Hard to believe that with 24/7 #Fake News on CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, NYTIMES & WAPO, the Trump base is getting stronger!" the President tweeted.

Because President Trump is undermining our democratic norms and processes in so many ways, it is often easy to focus on each of them in isolation, rather than as part of the same larger story. But, taken together, they point to a possible climax in which Trump, cornered by revelations unearthed by Robert S. Mueller III’s probe and by ongoing media scrutiny, seeks to rally his supporters behind the idea that this outcome represents not the imposition of accountability by functioning civic institutions, but rather an effort to steal the election from him — and from them.

Former CNN commentator Kayleigh McEnany hosted a video "news" program over the weekend on President Donald Trump's Facebook page. "Thank you for joining us as we provide you the news of the week from Trump Tower here in New York," McEnany said at the beginning of the segment.

During the video, McEnany, appearing in front featuring Trump's campaign logo and website, touted the recent jobs report. The economy added 209,000 jobs in July and the unemployment rate fell to 4.3 percent, the Commerce Department reported Aug 4. Trump hailed the strong numbers last week, saying he had "only just begun." "President Trump has clearly steered the economy back in the right direction," McEnany said in the segment.

Facebook is testing a new feature that inserts posts from local politicians into users’ News Feeds, even if they don’t necessarily follow those politicians. The new feature included a label titled “This week in your government.” A Facebook spokesperson confirmed that the feature is a test. "We are testing a new civic engagement feature that shows people on Facebook the top posts from their elected officials,” this spokesperson said in a statement. “Our goal is to give people a simple way to learn about what’s happening at all levels of their government.” The feature will appear, at most, once per week, and only for users who follow at least one local, state or federal representative from their area. Facebook knows who your local reps are if you handed over your address to use the company’s voting plan feature — or its “Town Hall” feature, which helps people find and follow their elected officials. Otherwise, you’ll just see posts from politicians at the state and federal levels.

The News Media Alliance didn’t like what it heard out of the Justice Department about potentially subpoenaing media outlets in the ongoing investigations of leaks. "The News Media Alliance strongly condemns these statements, as they are an attempt to chill communications between the press and government officials," the group said. "The free flow of information to reporters is crucial in order to bring matters of great public importance to light. Threatening the use of subpoenas that could compel reporters to testify, and, in particular, to reveal the identity of a confidential source, will restrict the flow of information to reporters and ultimately to the public on matters of public interest, such as waste, fraud and abuse within the government and in the private sector." "The press provides a vital role in helping the public to hold the government accountable," said Alliance President David Chavern. "The Attorney General’s statements are an attempt to stifle communications between government officials and journalists which will ultimately keep the public in the dark.”

It's the White House's go-to pejorative when dismissing reports of internal power struggles as idle gossip: “palace intrigue.” The phrase conveys the idea that reporters covering President Trump and his advisers are more like reality TV addicts than real journalists — which is exactly how the White House wants them to be seen. But palace intrigue actually does matter. I asked a half dozen White House reporters to help explain why.

“Clearly what happens inside the White House reflects how policy is made,” said Fox News's John Roberts.

“Whoever has the president's ear has influence over policy because he doesn't have formed views on a variety of topics,” added Politico's Tara Palmeri. “As [chief economic adviser] Gary Cohn said during the foreign trip, [Trump] is learning. His teachers are whoever has access to him. Therefore the proxy wars really do influence policy that affects everyday Americans.”

President Donald Trump has been tweeting about the economy a lot lately, and Aug 4 was no different. But one of his tweets caught our eye. "Excellent Jobs Numbers just released - and I have only just begun. Many job stifling regulations continue to fall. Movement back to USA!" the President tweeted. Notice he said the jobs numbers had just been released. That's true; the Bureau of Labor Statistics had published them just 15 minutes earlier. That puts President Trump's tweet in violation of a federal rule (page three). It says, in part, when federal data is released, "employees of the Executive Branch shall not comment publicly on the data until at least one hour after the official release time."

Remember Judith Miller? She is the former New York Times reporter who in 2005 spent almost three months in jail because she refused to identify the government source who leaked the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame. Attorney General Jeff Sessions raised the prospect that more journalists will have to make the same decision Miller did — out the source or go to jail — when he said the Justice Department is “reviewing policies affecting media subpoenas” as part of the Trump administration’s effort to crack down on leaks.

Miller, now a Fox News contributor, wrote in 2016 about how Mike Pence, then a Republican congressman from Indiana, invited her to his office upon her release from jail and promised to push for a shield law. She said, "True to his word, Mr. Pence introduced the 'Free Flow of Information Act' with Rep Rick Boucher (D-VA). 'As a conservative who believes in limited government,' he said after reintroducing the legislation, which failed the first time he proposed it, 'I believe the only check on government power in real time is a free and independent press.'" In 2007, the Columbia Journalism Review called Mike Pence “journalism’s best ally in the fight to protect anonymous sources.” In the end, however, Pence failed to secure passage of his shield law, and there is still none in place. That is one reason that Sessions now has the power to subpoena journalists.

[Commentary] The Washington Post made waves on Aug 3 when it published the full transcripts of President Donald Trump’s erratic phone calls with the leaders of Mexico and Australia that occurred just after he was inaugurated. Despite their clear news value, some journalists and pundits questioned whether the leaked transcripts should be published.

Far from being criticized for publishing these leaked transcripts, The Washington Post should be commended. The Trump Administration has spent the last few months trying to cut off all avenues of transparency to the White House, refusing to release visitor logs, keeping Trump’s schedule opaque, limiting the information in readouts of calls to foreign leaders, refusing to hold a presidential press conference since February, and even demanding journalists do not record the administration’s daily press briefings. The Trump Administration may complain all day about leaks, but leaks are increasingly the only way the American public can learn what the administration is really doing. And the news value of these transcripts could not be more obvious: They showed Trump did not know basic facts, that he asked a foreign leader to lie to the press for him, that he knew from the start that his signature campaign promise to “make Mexico pay for the wall” was bogus, and that he has no sense for how allies should cooperate with each other.

[Trevor Timm is the executive director of Freedom of the Press Foundation.]