Sean Spicer, press secretary to the White House, went on Fox News
this weekend to accuse MSNBC:s Rachel Maddow of a crime for exercising
her rights under the first amendment. It looks very much like a smear campaign to
undermine her credibility in fear of what she might report next.
Recent polls show that a majority
of US citizens now think that President Trump should release all his
recent tax returns to either sort out any misunderstanding, or provide evidence of wrongdoing. If everything is in order, it should be a simple matter to clear his name. If everything is not in order, it would
certainly be of interest for the general public to know.
Someone, somehow, got hold of the first two pages of Trump's tax
return for 2005 and mailed them to a reporter, David Cay Johnston, who contacted
Maddow. She in turn made sure to have the authenticity of the
document confirmed by the White House before commenting on it in
public.
The Supreme Court ruled long ago that it is a
protected right under the first amendment for a reporter to release
factually correct information which is of public interest, as
long as no crimes were committed by the reporter in obtaining the
information. All these conditions apply here. Either Spicer didn't know
this and didn't care enough to find out before he went on the air to accuse Maddow of a
crime, or he knew but was instructed to make a wrongful accusation to intimidate Maddow and smear her reputation.
The White House has nothing on Maddow. However, Maddow might very well have something on the White House.
