“If you look at the last 8 years, there has been a very concerted war on not just sources and whistleblowers, also journalists, implemented not by Donald Trump but by the Obama Administration. More sources prosecuted under the 1917 Espionage Act than in all previous administrations combined.” ~ Glenn Greenwald

As it turned out, the ‘war’ was actually a ‘war of words’. In one sense, Trump turned out to be the greatest proponent of Article 19, then our own American Press.

| Obama, who campaigned on a promise to protect government whistle-blowers, made greater use of the Espionage Act to prosecute leakers and menace journalists than all other presidents combined.

Obama’s Justice Department accessed the personal email of a Fox News reporter and surveilled the reporter’s parents and colleagues. They seized the home, work and mobile phone records of journalists at the Associated Press.

Risen, who fought the administration to protect his sources, got so deep in his own legal battle with Obama that he selected a reading list for prison before the government finally backed off.

White House officials subverted the press in a number of ways while touting themselves as the most transparent in history.

Obama routinely banned news photographers from official events. He went months between press conferences and used social media to circumvent reporters.

First lady Michelle Obama took policy trips overseas with no press on her airplane. The White House scrubbed public visitor logs of names it didn’t want in the news.

The Obama administration posted the worst record in history for fulfilling requests for public records under the Freedom of Information Act.

In a bleak episode of unintended irony, an open-government group gave Obama an award for transparency in an Oval Office ceremony closed to the press.

Trump may well end up being worse on press issues than Obama, and today’s White House reporters could be picking out their prison reading lists eventually.

But for now, those on duty there are guardedly hopeful. | ~ Paragraph 8 on, Variety

Again, while attacking President Trump’s own use of free speech, our friends on the ‘left’ again have to admit that President Trump never jailed any journalists.

| Within the United States, no journalists were jailed at the time of CPJ’s prison census, but an unprecedented 110 journalists were arrested or criminally chargedin 2020 and around 300 were assaulted, the majority by law enforcement, according to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. At least 12 still face criminal charges, some of which carry jail terms. Observers told CPJ that the polarized political climate, militarized law enforcement, and vitriol toward the media combined during a wave of protests to eradicate norms that once afforded journalists police protection.  | ~  Paragraph 4, Committee To Protect Journalists

| While no journalists were in prison in the United States as of Dec. 1, 110 were arrested or charged in 2020, many while covering demonstrations against police violence, the CPJ said. | Paragraph 8 ~ Reuters

“A covert warrant about a President’s lawyer during an impeachment process. How extraordinary is that during an impeachment process?”  ~ Steve Bannon

“If it were done in a prior period the people found doing would be fired and possibly prosecuted. . . I don’t know if the American people realize how serious a destruction of our rights it is under this wonderful Constitution.” ~ Rudy Giuliani

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) on Thursday called former Sen. Kelly Loeffler “weak” and a “fake Trumper” following her call for the state official to be investigated over his handling of the 2020 election.

During an appearance on Fox News, network host Neil Cavuto asked the Georgia Republican about his plans for the future, existing within a part that “might be pushing” him “to the side — or trying to.”

Raffensperger responded, stating that he plans to run for reelection in the state and acknowledged that Georgians may still be upset about the results in the 2020 election.

“Many people support what I have done, when I talk to people throughout the state … there were still some hard feelings from some of the people, but many of the people understood that we did everything right — they didn’t like the results, but neither did I,” he said.

Cavuto then asked Raffensperger if he would support Loeffler should she run for Senate again and win the Republican nomination.

“I don’t believe that’s going to happen. I think that what the base wants is someone that’s a true blue Trump supporter, and she’s a fake Trumper,” Raffensperger said.

Cavuto asked again if she won the nomination if he would throw his support behind the former senator.

“That’s such a wild hypothetical,” Raffensperger said. “Let’s talk about it if it happens.”

Hunter Biden continues to hold a minority stake in a Chinese private equity firm 100 days into President Joe Biden’s term, business records show.

Hunter Biden holds a 10% equity stake in BHR Partners through his company, Skaneateles LLC, according to Qixinbao and Baidu, two independent services that provide business records on Chinese corporations based on China’s National Credit Information Publicity System.

Joe Biden promised in October 2019 that if elected president, nobody in his family would have any business relationship with any foreign corporation or country.

“No one in my family will have an office in the White House, will sit in on meetings as if they are a cabinet member, will, in fact, have any business relationship with anyone that relates to a foreign corporation or a foreign country,” Joe Biden told reporters in Iowa. “Period. Period. End of story.”

BHR is co-owned by the Chinese state-controlled Bank of China, the business records show, and manages the equivalent of $2.1 billion in assets, according to its website. Hunter Biden acquired his 10% stake in the firm with a $420,000 investment in October 2017, according to a statement released by his lawyer in October 2019.

BHR’s business file was last updated on July 28, 2020, the records show.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in early February that Hunter Biden was in the process of divesting his ownership stake in the equity firm.

Mike Lindell joins the infamous Black Face Artist, Jimmy Kimmel, and plays a good sport on the show while answering questions on his life story and explaining some of his positions on Election 2020.

John Eastman, the University of Colorado Boulder’s visiting conservative scholar, laid the groundwork to sue the school Thursday, filing a legal claim alleging breach of contract and defamation over how the university responded to his role in efforts to overturn the results of the presidential election.

The six-page claim, a necessary precursor to filing a lawsuit, indicates Eastman will seek at least $1.9 million in damages, consisting of nearly $20,000 that remains in a CU research account and $1.85 million in future salary he alleges he can’t earn because of “reputational harm.”

The notice of claim filed by Eastman — who spoke at President Donald Trump’s Washington, D.C., rally that preceded the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection — alleges CU officials “have denied his the ability to complete his duties under the contract. They have committed libel and slander against him and have irreparably damaged his career and his professional standing.”

Eastman and his attorney Randy Corporon held a news conference in Boulder on Thursday afternoon to announce the legal move. Corporon said CU Boulder has taken “remarkable steps to cancel the voice of my client.”