Government & Communications

NBC News is defending its report that President Donald Trump wanted a massive expansion of the US nuclear arsenal after Defense Secretary James Mattis pushed back on those claims. Courtney Kube, a national security producer for NBC News, said the report never said President Trump "called for" more nuclear weapons, rather only that he "said he wanted more." NBC reported earlier Oct 11 that Trump suggested dramatically expanding the country's nuclear capabilities — from roughly 4,000 to 32,000 warheads — after seeing data that showed the US weapons stockpile decreasing from that level since the 1960s.

Defense Secretary James Mattis in a statement hit back at the NBC report, saying President Trump never "called for" an increase in the nuclear arsenal. "Recent reports that the President called for an increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal are absolutely false. This kind of erroneous reporting is irresponsible,” Sec Mattis said.

President Donald Trump made two things clear when he told reporters gathered in the Oval Office that “it's frankly disgusting the way the press is able to write whatever they want to write, and people should look into it.” One: He does not value a free press. Two: He does not even understand how a free press works.

It is simply untrue that “the press is able to write whatever they want to write.” News outlets that defame or invade the privacy of the people they cover can be sued into extinction. Just ask Gawker, which went bankrupt and shuttered last year after losing a case brought by Hulk Hogan.

After Steve Bannon appeared on Fox News Oct 9 to declare war on Republican Senate incumbents and call for Sen Bob Corker (R-TN) to resign, he received a text from an unlikely fan: Jared Kushner. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser messaged the former chief White House strategist to say he thought the TV hit was a success, according to multiple people who were dining with Bannon at Del Frisco’s steakhouse across the street from Fox News’ Manhattan studios when the message popped up.

The attaboy from a campaign ally-turned-West Wing nemesis was surprising on multiple fronts. For one, Bannon associates and White House officials said Kushner hasn’t reached out to Bannon since he was ousted from his White House post in August. But even stranger was that members of the Del Frisco’s dinner crew, which included conservative media personalities, thought Kushner was belatedly endorsing an anti-establishment strategy that has many Republicans concerned about losing control of the Senate altogether — one that undercuts the very members of Congress the White House needs as partners if Trump wants to pass any part of his domestic agenda, including tax reform.

Two former commissioners with the Federal Communications Commission threw cold water on President Donald Trump’s suggestion to “challenge” the broadcast licenses of networks over news reports he considers to be “fake” and “bad for country.” “To me it’s just incomprehensible that because of the content of NBC News that somehow their license would be at risk,” said Alfred Sikes, a Republican who chaired the FCC under President George H.W. Bush. “Any kind of action would require a majority of commissioners and I find it very, very unlikely that based on arguments about the foundations of NBC News content that those licenses would be put up for review,” he added.

Michael Copps, a Democrat who served as FCC commissioner from 2001 to 2011, was similarly disturbed by President Trump’s tweet, which followed criticism of a series of NBC News reports critical of his administration and whose facts he disputed. “If such a threat were carried out it would be a blatantly unacceptable intervention in the jurisdiction of an independent federal agency,” said Copps. “It would have a chilling effect not just on NBC but maybe even worse, small and independent stations who might not have the resources of NBC to fight back such an effort.”

President Donald Trump’s suggestion that NBC should potentially have its broadcast license challenged has prompted a wave of condemnation from both sides of the aisle, with many saying that such a move would violate the First Amendment.

“The president’s threat against NBC and other media outlets is far from empty,” said Sen Brian Schatz (D-HI), referencing a similar proposal from President Nixon, who wanted to crack down on the Washington Post. “In confirmation hearings for Ajit Pai, we raised this possibility,” Sen Schatz said. “Now, the FCC must show that it is loyal to the law, not the president, and make clear that it rejects this kind of interference.”

“This threat alone could intimidate the press and lead to skewed and unfair reporting,” said House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ). “I therefore call on FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to immediately condemn this unwarranted attack. I also call on the Chair to announce publicly that he will not follow through on his orders from the President. Chairman Pai should not act in any way to undermine free speech on our airwaves.”

President Donald Trump said it is "disgusting the press is able to write whatever it wants to write" during remarks from the Oval Office, with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sitting by his side. Presdient Trump was asked about a report from NBC News that claimed he’d sought to dramatically expand the US nuclear arsenal. President Trump called the report “fake news” and said a ten-fold increase in the US nuclear arsenal would be “totally unnecessary” and that he merely wants US weapons programs to be in “tip top shape.”

“It is frankly disgusting the press is able to write whatever it wants to write,” President Trump said. When asked, he said "no," he would not seek to limit what the press writes. "The press should speak more honestly," he said. "I've seen tremendously dishonest press. It's not even a question of distortion. Like the question that was just asked before about 10 times the nuclear capablity. I know the capability we have, believe me, and it is awesome. It is massive. So when they make up stories like that, that's just made up, and the generals will tell you that. And then they have sources that don't exist, they don't exist. They make up the sources. There are no sources."

President Donald Trump is yet again threatening to crack down on media outlets he doesn't like. But this time he's doing it in a much more brazen fashion. And it's almost exactly what Richard Nixon appeared to attempt in the 1970s. The difference here is that Nixon talked about the scheme only privately. Nixon allies challenged the licenses of TV stations whose owners ran afoul of Nixon. And those owners were The Washington Post Co.

Framing the freedom of the press to cover what it deems important as “disgusting” is remarkable coming from any American politician, much less the president while sitting in the Oval Office. But it serves as a reminder that, for all of the focus placed on President Donald Trump’s relationship with and emulation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, there’s another autocrat with whom he has had a friendly relationship and interests in common: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Erdogan, perhaps more directly than Putin, moved early to line up allies in the Trump administration. In August of 2016, Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn’s consulting firm entered into a business arrangement with Inovo BV, a Dutch consulting firm owned by a Turkish businessman with ties to Erdogan. At the same time, Flynn was a key aide to Trump. On the day of the election itself, Nov. 8, an opinion piece written by Flynn ran at The Hill. It was titled, “Our ally Turkey is in crisis and needs our support.” “The U.S. media is doing a bang-up job of reporting the Erdogan government’s crackdown on dissidents,” Flynn wrote, “but it’s not putting it into perspective.”

[Commentary] The large news networks have affiliate stations that are owned by other entities; for NBC, there are about 200 of them. They also have owned-and-operated stations; for NBC, there are 11 such stations, in big markets such as DC, Los Angeles, Dallas-Fort Worth and New York, among others. In order for President Donald Trump to wipe out the reporting of NBC News, well, he’d have to upend the licenses of all its affiliates and owned-and-operated stations — an unfathomable act, and one that might even draw condemnation from President Trump’s fellow Republicans.

The autocratic effort couldn’t end there, however. NBC News transmits its reporting every day, all day on MSNBC, its cable arm. Here, President Trump is powerless. Though the FCC regulates certain aspects of the cable television industry, news content ain’t one of them. With his tweet, Trump suggests that he figured there was a big placard somewhere on an FCC shelf with the title, “NBC License.” And that he could stop in one day and just rip it up. He’ll just have to accept that the world is more complicated than he’d prefer. He’s as unsuited for his job as his job is unsuited for his appetites.

[Commentary] As unprecedented as President Donald Trump’s relentless and angry attack on the media is, it’s important to realize that unless he wants to break the law by doing something like ordering wiretaps of reporters (as Nixon did), there’s not much he can do. He could create an enemies list and instruct his aides not to speak to certain journalists. But given how incredibly leaky his White House is, they’d probably ignore him. He can try to discredit certain news organizations, which he has done.

But you may have noticed that the main targets of his ire (CNN and the Times) are doing quite well in the Trump era. He has the power of the bully pulpit, but at least in this area, he’s finding it awfully hard to put his authoritarian impulses into practice. Which of course will only make him more enraged as he turns on cable news or picks up the paper and fails to find the praise he seeks. At least he’s got “Fox & Friends” to make him feel better.