‘You Cannot Be Asking Me That!’ AG Todd Blanche Erupts at ABC’s Martha Raddatz in Heated Interview on Trump’s Press Ban

Attorney General Todd Blanche got heated with ABC’s Martha Raddatz in a testy interview on Sunday about President Donald Trump’s ban on three media outlets — which was paused by a federal judge Wednesday.

In the heated skirmish on ABC’s This Week, Raddatz peppered Trump with questions about the ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico which was blocked by Trump-appointed Judge Timothy Kelly.

“You clearly think you had a strong case, but the temporary restraining order was granted,” Raddatz said. “The judge was skeptical of the argument the Department [of Justice] made in court filings to defend this ban on the grounds of national security. He wrote, for one thing, ‘nothing in the record that predates this suit suggests that the revocation of plaintiffs’ hard passes was motivated by national security concerns. Certainly that is not what President Trump said when he announced that he was banning plaintiffs from the White House. Instead, he focused on the alleged lack of truthfulness and negativity of plaintiffs’ reporting.’ The president said nothing about national security when he announced this ban. And clearly you are very interested in the fact of what the press says and how they say it.”

“Well, I’m not going to get into what the judge says, that litigation’s ongoing,” Blanche said. “But our position has been clear from the beginning. What they say is exactly the issue when it comes to national security.”

“Give us an example,” Raddatz replied.

Blanche took serious umbrage with the ABC host’s challenge.

“I’m sorry, wait, give you an example of when CNN doesn’t report accurately?!” Blanche said. “You cannot be asking me that! They don’t even disagree. There’s not even a real dispute that the information coming out of CNN and some of these other networks is wholly and completely, almost 100 percent negative towards the president.”

“The judge decided this was not based on national security,” Raddatz said.

“I’m not going to talk about the specifics of what the judge said,” Blanche said. “That wouldn’t be right. What I’m talking about is the government’s position and what the Department of Justice said in court, which is the same thing that President Trump has said repeatedly, which is at some point, the complete misinformation and the inaccuracy and the one-sided news out of certain organizations does become a national security issue — and it’s not right for the people of the United States to have to put up with.”

The debate got even more heated with Raddatz’s follow-up.

“So are you saying you’re going to screen people before they get on a flight? Come into the White House?” Raddatz asked — before Blanche cut her off.

“I did not say that!” Blanche said. “No, no, I did not say that! You don’t get to put words in my mouth!”

“Fine, you have a right to defend yourself there,” Raddatz said.

“I’m not defending myself! You said I said something that I didn’t say!” Blanche said.

Raddatz shifted gears by asking, “What do you think the job of the press is? What does the First Amendment mean to you?”

“What it means to me is not the issue, but what the law says, what the free press can do is they are free to report whatever they want, okay?” Blanche said. “Of course they can. But when it comes to the White House, it is the people’s house. It is a privilege and not a right to be there. And what every American should expect is that when they are told something on any at work, or when they read something in the paper, that it even has a whiff. Of impartiality, that it even has a whiff of accuracy about what’s actually happening. And if that’s not happening, then it is absolutely the president’s duty to make sure that the American people are hearing accurate news. It doesn’t have to be good for the president. It doesn’t have to everything’s positive about what is happening in the administration.”

“But you heard what the president said,” Raddatz replied. “‘They want to try and diminish the Republicans and a Republican administration.’ That’s the president…not talking about impartiality.”

“You just picked out seven words the president said,” Blanche said. “The president talks about his concerns with a lot of these mainstream media outlets. There’s hours and hours and hours of quotes and statements about that. So for you to pick out seven words and say, oh, that’s what the president means, that’s extraordinarily disingenuous, okay? Everybody knows exactly what the President’s concern is.”

Watch above, via ABC.

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