Our Constitution’s Bill of Rights, written more than 200 years ago, gives us freedom of the press.
It means the press can partake in investigations. It means there’s a way the press, if doing its job, can find out how and why the government functions.
During the Obama administration, there was interest in who came and visited (and perhaps influenced) the White House. When the administration faced public pressure, it opened up the White House visitor logs in 2009. The Trump administration has closed them again.
Now there is a request from a group called Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, to find out who has visited Mar-a-Lago and who may be speaking to the president and his advisers. According to reports, the only information that’s been released concerns the people who accompanied the Japanese prime minister during his visit.
Americans are not stupid. Most of us went to school and took courses in civics or American government. We know lobbying happens and that, under our Constitution and freedom of the press, we should be able to see the list of people who have had access to the president and his advisers.
It doesn’t matter if you approve of the actions of Chelsea Manning and think she should be at Harvard University, or if you think Harvard should have thrown her off the roster of visiting fellows at the Kennedy School. It matters that our government has way too many secrets.
This week, the Intercept, one site that devotes itself to investigative journalism, published documents from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. The Intercept published the most documents ever released at once from the cache provided by Snowden. There were 294 articles from an internal National Security Agency site. Some of these were classified. The documents are now there for anyone to examine.
You can agree or disagree with the decision by the Intercept and Edward Snowden to release classified documents. There cannot be disagreement, however, that paid spies for the United States were able to use a classified network for personal business and personal gain. Personal gain at the expense of the United States is not enshrined in our Constitution.
According to the Intercept, the NSA also was able to help Ethiopia expand surveillance. Ethiopia is not exactly a model of democracy. According to the report on the documents, the United States operated a drone base in England, thereby making the British compliant with our drone efforts. Have Americans ever discussed or voted on this?
Facebook, that all-American (and now global) social media communication platform, has now given to special counsel Robert Mueller information about fake identities that, at least at first glance, were developed by the Russians. That qualifies as a “wow.” Media sleuths are finding out more and more about who is trying to influence average Americans. Now they want access to names of individuals who might be trying to influence not-so-average Americans: those who run our country.
Although we don’t have access to logs detailing every phone call or visitor to members of Congress, the press is free to roam the halls of the Capitol. Although some campaign contributions can be hidden in PACs, most larger contributions to political candidates (and, therefore, members of Congress) are available publicly. Anyone with the time can get some insight into which issues are pushed and which members of Congress are being influenced.
Now, we learn the state of California is considering making tax returns of candidates (and, therefore, Donald Trump) public. That would be a step in the right direction.
We have a right to privacy, which, although not specifically listed in the Constitution, has been implied and supported by the Supreme Court. And we also have a right to “freedom of the press.” Some privacy vanishes when an individual decides to become a public figure. The citizens have a right to know who that public figure is speaking with and who is influencing their decisions.
Opening up the logs that detail who is visiting Mar-a-Lago when President Trump is there would be one step toward shedding light on the secret actions of people who want to dictate policy in government. Classified documents that protect the government supporting unseemly regimes and personal gain should not be classified. They, like the Mar-a-Lago logs, should be open to the public.
Media wishing to interview Ellen Ratner, please contact [email protected].
