The Trump administration’s war on the free press ratcheted up yet again on Monday, when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held a press briefing call to discuss “international religious freedom” before he departs for the Middle East. So far, so good, right? But first the call was restricted to “faith-based media,” with non-faith-based reporters excluded, and now the State Department is refusing to release a transcript or even a list of which faith-based media organizations were included.
“It is typical practice that any on the record interview in which a Cabinet official participates is transcribed and published at the earliest appropriate opportunity,” according to a former State Department spokesman who is now a CNN analyst. “These officials are public servants. What they say—in its entirety—is inherently of public interest. It's inappropriate and irresponsible not to observe that obligation.”
Certainly Cabinet secretaries will sometimes hold conversations with a small, targeted group of reporters, but … a briefing on religious freedom presumably focused on the Middle East ahead of a high-profile trip to the region? That’s something everyone wants to know about. And keeping not just the call’s contents but its participants a secret is downright creepy authoritarian behavior. Which is to say, business as usual for the Trump administration.