00:00Thank you, Leader Jeffries. What's your reaction to the current press restrictions in the White House and if you specifically
00:07come back after the midterms as the new speaker of the House? What types of commitments to press freedoms and
00:14press actions are you doing today?
00:16Well, listen, the freedom of the press and the free and fair press is an incredibly important part of our
00:22democracy. And, you know, the fact that the president doesn't like coverage from the media and decides to cut that
00:32coverage off seems to us to be a clear violation of the First Amendment.
00:38And I think courts will find that to be the case as these cases continue to move forward, all the
00:44way up potentially to the Supreme Court. You know, we pride ourselves here on Capitol Hill of our interactions with
00:52the American people. This is a citadel of democracy for them. And of course, with our interactions with the free
00:59and fair press on behalf of the American people, which is the job that you all have to do.
01:05Vice President, so CNN, MSNOW, and Politico are now suing over the ban. Do you think it's appropriate for the
01:11president to be banning media outlets just because he doesn't like what they report?
01:14Well, I take some issue with the premise. So he's not banning media outlets. What he's doing is saying, we're
01:19not going to give you special access to the White House if you engage in what is effectively propaganda.
01:24We have to remember those three outlets account. About 92 percent of the stories that they have on the president
01:29of the United States, on the administration are negative.
01:31That's not representative of the American people. It's not representative of public opinion.
01:36So if you're going to engage in what is effectively far left propaganda, why would a Republican White House give
01:41you special access?
01:42Sir, you talked a lot about free speech over the years. How is this not an attack on free speech?
01:46Well, they can still report on the Trump White House. They can still get the public reports. They can still,
01:51of course, talk to people in the administration and outside the administration.
01:54What the president has said is we're not going to give you special access inside the White House.
01:58The way that I think about it is if you go back to the Biden administration or the Obama administration,
02:02compare, let's say, Politico to Breitbart.
02:05If you actually look at the objective analysis, Politico and Breitbart are – Politico is as anti-Trump as Breitbart
02:12was anti-Obama or anti-Biden.
02:14Now, why on God's green earth would Donald Trump be expected to give Politico special access when nobody in the
02:21media expected the Biden administration or the Obama administration to give Breitbart special access?
02:28It's about basic fairness. They can still report. They still have the access to free speech.
02:32They're just not going to get an office in the White House anymore, and I think it's totally appropriate, unless,
02:37of course, they start to behave like real news organizations.
02:39And gas prices are really high right now, $6 – above $6 for a gallon of diesel. How much longer
02:47should Americans be expected to pay these high prices?
02:50Well, look, we're very cognizant of the fact that because the Iranians are terrorizing international shipping, energy prices are elevated.
02:56We're doing everything that we can to, one side, to trant down on those prices but give the American people
03:01some relief in the interim.
03:02One of the things the president has talked about is encouraging some of the states to give Americans relief from
03:06the gas taxes.
03:07I think we all have to accept that so long as the Iranians are trying to terrorize international shipping, we,
03:13of course, are going to try to push back against that.
03:15But that is why gas prices are so high.
03:18Vice President, so CNN, MSNOW, and Politico are now suing over the ban.
03:21Do you think it's appropriate for the president to be banning media outlets just because he doesn't like what they
03:25report?
03:26Well, I take some issue with the premise. So he's not banning media outlets.
03:30What he's doing is saying we're not going to give you special access to the White House if you engage
03:34in what is effectively propaganda.
03:36We have to remember, those three outlets account, about 92 percent of the stories that they have on the president
03:41of the United States, on the administration, are negative.
03:44That's not representative of the American people. It's not representative of public opinion.
03:48So if you're going to engage in what is effectively far-left propaganda, why would a Republican White House give
03:54you special access?
03:55Sir, you've talked a lot about free speech over the years. How is this not an attack on free speech?
03:59Well, they can still report on the Trump White House. They can still get the public reports.
04:03They can still, of course, talk to people in the administration and outside the administration.
04:06What the president has said is we're not going to give you special access inside the White House.
04:11The way that I think about it is if you go back to the Biden administration or the Obama administration,
04:15compare, let's say, Politico to Breitbart.
04:18If you actually look at the objective analysis, Politico and Breitbart are, Politico is as anti-Trump as Breitbart was
04:25anti-Obama or anti-Biden.
04:27Now, why on God's green earth would Donald Trump be expected to give Politico special access when nobody in the
04:34media expected the Biden administration or the Obama administration to give Breitbart special access?
04:40It's about basic fairness. They can still report. They still have the access to free speech.
04:45They're just not going to get an office in the White House anymore.
04:47And I think it's totally appropriate unless, of course, they start to behave like real news organizations.
04:54Subscribe to One India and never miss an update.
04:59Download the One India app now.
