New York Times sues Pentagon over new reporting restrictions – US politics live | Trump administration
New York Times sues Pentagon over new reporting restrictions
The New York Times filed a lawsuit against the Pentagon on Thursday, accusing the defense department of infringing on the constitutional rights of its journalists with its new reporting restrictions.
The restrictions, which went into effect in October, require reporters to sign a pledge that they will not obtain unauthorized material and restricts access to certain areas unless accompanied by an official – a stark departure from previous guidelines. In a summary of the filing, the New York Times called this policy “exactly the type of speech- and press-restrictive scheme that the Supreme Court and D.C. Circuit have recognized violates the First Amendment”.
The Guardian, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Atlantic, CNN, Reuters, the Associated Press, NPR, HuffPost and trade publication Breaking Defense are among the US outlets that refused to sign the agreement.
In the lawsuit, the New York Times is asking the US district court in Washington to issue an order stopping the Pentagon from enforcing the press policy. The New York Times “intends to vigorously defend against the violation of these rights, just as we have long done throughout administrations opposed to scrutiny and accountability”, the company said in a statement.
Key events
FBI arrests suspect in January 6 pipe bomb case – reports
The FBI has arrested a person accused of planting pipe bombs outside the Democratic National Committee (DNC) building and near the Republican headquarters on the night before the January 6 insurrection, according to multiple reports.
The years-long search included the FBI releasing surveillance footage of the suspect placing a bomb at the DNC, and offering a $500,000 reward.
The bombs, which police deactivated and prevented from exploding, were discovered on the same day supporters of Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol in an attempt to stop lawmakers from certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election victory.
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Earlier, he reported that the French president, Emmanuel Macron, has warned European leaders that “there is a chance that the US will betray Ukraine on territory without clarity on security guarantees”, the German magazine Der Spiegel reported, quoting a leaked note from a recent call between the European leaders.
The magazine claimed that Macron talked about the tense moment in the talks to be “a big danger” for the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, with the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, adding that the Ukrainian leader – also on the call – needed to be “very careful”.
“They are playing games with both you and us,” Merz was reported as saying, which the magazine concluded was a reference to Steve Witkoff’s recent mission to Moscow.
Donald Trump will welcome the president of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, as well as the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Felix Tshisekedi, to the White House today.
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With the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, already in the hot seat over the 2 September boat strike and the inspector-general report on his use of the Signal messaging app in March, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Hegseth had asked Adml Alvin Holsey to step down after he had expressed concerns over the legality of the attacks in the Caribbean.
Hegseth had announced in October that Holsey would be stepping down as head of the US military’s southern command less than a year after he took over the post. The posting, which oversees operations in Central America, South America and the Caribbean, typically lasts three years.
The discord between Hegseth and Holsey began just days after Donald Trump was sworn into the office, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing former officials. But it intensified after Holsey expressed concern over the “murky legal authority for the boat strike campaign”.
The Trump administration has insisted the strikes are legal under the rules of war and that the US is engaged in armed conflict with traffickers – an argument that has been widely rejected by most legal experts. The Pentagon’s own Law of War manual states that it is prohibited to attack anyone who is “wounded, sick, or shipwrecked”, thus the controversy over the second follow-up strike on 2 September that killed survivors after the initial strike failed to kill everybody onboard.
To read more on the legal arguments around the 2 September strike, click on the story below:
New York Times sues Pentagon over new reporting restrictions
The New York Times filed a lawsuit against the Pentagon on Thursday, accusing the defense department of infringing on the constitutional rights of its journalists with its new reporting restrictions.
The restrictions, which went into effect in October, require reporters to sign a pledge that they will not obtain unauthorized material and restricts access to certain areas unless accompanied by an official – a stark departure from previous guidelines. In a summary of the filing, the New York Times called this policy “exactly the type of speech- and press-restrictive scheme that the Supreme Court and D.C. Circuit have recognized violates the First Amendment”.
The Guardian, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Atlantic, CNN, Reuters, the Associated Press, NPR, HuffPost and trade publication Breaking Defense are among the US outlets that refused to sign the agreement.
In the lawsuit, the New York Times is asking the US district court in Washington to issue an order stopping the Pentagon from enforcing the press policy. The New York Times “intends to vigorously defend against the violation of these rights, just as we have long done throughout administrations opposed to scrutiny and accountability”, the company said in a statement.
Hegseth under scrutiny over drug boat strikes and Signalgate
Hello and thank you for joining us on the US politics live blog. I’m Vivian Ho and I will be bringing you the latest news over the next few hours.
Frank “Mitch” Bradley, the US navy admiral who reportedly issued orders to fire upon survivors of an attack on an alleged drug boat, is expected on Capitol Hill on Thursday to provide a classified briefing to congressional lawmakers overseeing national security, the Associated Press reports.
Trump administration officials have defended carrying out the 2 September follow-up strike by arguing that the objective was to ensure the complete destruction of the boat – essentially mirroring the language in a secret justice department office of legal counsel (OLC) memo that purportedly said it was permissible for the US to use lethal force against unflagged vessels carrying cocaine since the cartels use the proceeds to fund violence.
Still, questions continue to mount over the legality of the attack, particularly around the reasoning of the second strike and what orders the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, gave.
“This is an incredibly serious matter. This is about the safety of our troops. This is an incident that could expose members of our armed services to legal consequences,” the Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, said in a floor speech on Wednesday. “And yet the American public and the Congress are still not hearing basic facts.”
Hegseth, who is in hot water after a Department of Defense report concluded that he had violated departmental policies when he shared secret information in a Signal messaging chat in March, has sought to downplay his own involvement in the strike. Democratic senator Mark Warner has called for his resignation and Republican senator Lisa Murkowski said that Hegseth does not have her support.
The briefing comes as The New York Times filed a lawsuit against the Pentagon, accusing the defense department of violating the first amendment with its new reporting restrictions.
In other developments:
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The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown continues as federal agents descended upon New Orleans on Wednesday, sending fear through the region’s Latino community and prompting businesses to close. Gregory Bovino, the border patrol chief who has become the face of the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts, was spotted leading a group of masked agents through the historic French quarter as one woman heckled the agents.
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The operation in New Orleans came as Donald Trump continued his xenophobic attacks on Somali immigrants, telling reporters on Wednesday that “those Somalians should be out of here. They’ve destroyed our country” and that congresswoman Ilhan Omar should be “thrown the hell out”.
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In more immigration news, an Amnesty International report published on Thursday found that detainees at the Florida immigration detention facility, “Alligator Alcatraz”, face “harrowing human right violations”.
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The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is also in the process of creating a new internal database of non-US citizens who are “employed or affiliated” with the government department, a sensitive memo leaked to the Guardian has revealed.
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Trump also announced on Wednesday that he is repealing Biden-era federal fuel economy standards.
