Independent author and journalist Michael Shellenberger joined the White House briefing on Tuesday in the “new media” and praised the Trump administration while asking a fawning question.
“I want to see if you could give some insight into whether the president is considering additional measures against Europe and Brazil, not just for censorship but also for preventing political candidates from actually competing in elections. We’ve now seen in Romania, France, and now Germany with Joachim Paul, efforts to basically just prevent candidates from being able to compete in elections. The president has shown some concern around President Bolsonaro, who’s being prevented from running,” began Shellenberger, adding:
All of this is coming in the context of increased censorship of online platforms, of American platforms, and efforts to censor Americans. I’m personally being investigated under criminal investigation with my Brazilian colleagues for publishing the Twitter files of Brazil. We’re very grateful that the president has imposed Magnitsky sanctions on the judge.
Is the president considering additional actions given that it appears that they’re going to end up with a conviction against President Bolsonaro, preventing him from running? Is he considering doing anything about this crackdown in Europe? I mean, it’s shocking to see. Joachim Paul, this mayoral candidate in Germany—the criminal indictment against him cites him quote saying that he loves the Lord of the Rings as a reason why he’s an extremist and shouldn’t be able to run.
“So I just wonder if you could speak to that, and again I’m grateful to be here, nice to meet you all, and I’m grateful for what the Trump administration has done to push for free speech abroad,” concluded Shellenberger – who was one of the writers who worked on the so-called “Twitter Files.”
“Well, thanks for being here, Michael. We appreciate it. Freedom of speech is arguably the most important issue of our time. It is enshrined in our Constitution, and the president believes in it strongly,” replied Leavitt, before launching into a longer answer.
The Trump White House has widely been accused of skewing the coverage of the administration after it took over the press pool from the independent White House Correspondents’ Association, which historically decided who covers the president.
Watch the full clip above.
