The Pulitzer Prize-winning former editor of the Washington Post said the administration of President-elect Donald Trump is “salivating” to go after journalists.
Martin Baron, who served as executive editor of the Washington Post from 2013 to 2021 told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Saturday that the incoming Trump administration will use every means at their disposal to take on the press that crosses them.
"They have a lot of tools in their toolbox, and I think they will use every single one of them. That's already evident from the measures that they are promising to take. I think they are salivating for the opportunity to prosecute journalists for leaks of supposed national security information," Baron said.
"I think that they've already threatened to revoke the licenses for stations affiliated with some of the major networks, they are already — likely to sue a lot of media outlets for supposed defamation and other supposed offenses," he added.
Journalist are on edge as Trump and his legal team have sent a warning shot to those in the media who spread falsehoods regarding the president-elect. Last week, ABC News agreed to pay $15 million toward Trump's future presidential library and foundation to settle a defamation lawsuit over anchor George Stephanopoulos' on-air assertion that Trump had been found civilly liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll.
In November, Trump filed a lawsuit against CBS, demanding $10 billion in damages over the network’s “60 Minutes” interview with Vice President Kamala Harris prior to the election. The president-elect claims the interview with Harris and the associated programming were “partisan and unlawful acts of election and voter interference” intended to “mislead the public and attempt to tip the scales.”
On Monday, Trump continued his legal actions against the press when he filed a suit against former pollster J. Ann Selzer, her polling firm, The Des Moines Register and its parent company Gannett for "brazen election interference" and "consumer fraud" over a poll published days before November's election. Selzer had predicted Harris would win the state by three points yet Trump ended up winning by 13. The colossal 16-point error, Trump suggested, was too far outside the margin of error to be anything other than an attempt to sway the electorate.
When pressed on his lawsuits, Trump told the reporters on Monday, "I'm doing this not because I want to, I'm doing this because I feel I have an obligation to,” adding, “I feel I have to do this. I shouldn't really be the one to do it. It should have been the Justice Department or somebody else, but I have to do it. It costs a lot of money to do it. But we have to straighten out the press.”