Josh Earnest: ‘Outrageous’ for Trump to Undermine the Press ‘in Such a Gratuitous, Flippant Way on Twitter’

EXCERPT:

EARNEST: "There’s an important difference between, as outrageous as it is, to attack journalists here in the United States who enjoy the protections of the First Amendment to hold people in power accountable. It is another thing altogether to go out and attack independent professional journalists who are risking their lives in war zones, in some of the most remote places on the planet to bring us actual information about what’s happening around the world. The kind of information, the kinds of stories that arouse our consciousness, to make sure that the United States and people who live here are aware of what’s happening around the world and can respond to it. So when we saw, for example, a couple of years ago the crisis around the wave of migrant flows from North Africa and the Middle East, there were journalists who were on the front lines risking their lives to tell that story. We needed to know what was happening there. And to undermine them in such a gratuitous, flippant way on Twitter is outrageous for anyone to do, let alone the President of the United States who has sworn the oath to uphold the Constitution."