Vice President Pence: Trump administration has ‘defended the freedom of the press on the world stage’

Vice President Mike Pence insisted the Trump Administration has defended the freedom of the press globally, and dismissed comparisons between the White House's decision to revoke CNN reporter Jim Acosta's press pass and Vice President Pence's criticism of Myanmar's leader for jailing two journalists. "This administration has stood strong for a free and independent press and defended the freedom of the press on a world stage," Vice President Pence said. "There's no comparison whatsoever between disagreements over decorum at the White House and the imprisonment of the two reporters in Myanmar," he added, according to ABC News. The day before, Vice President Pence on confronted Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi about her country's treatment of Rohingya Muslims and its imprisonment of two Reuters journalists. During a one-on-one meeting, the vice president called the arrest and jailing of the two journalists since last year "deeply troubling," and emphasized the importance of a "free and independent press."