A spokesperson for The New York Times responds to recent reporting about a free press and reporting on the president.

For anyone who understands the role of the free press in a democracy, it should be troubling that President Biden has so actively and effectively avoided questions from independent journalists during his term. The president occupies the most important office in our nation, and the press plays a vital role in providing insights into his thinking and worldview, allowing the public to assess his record and hold him to account.

Mr. Biden has granted far fewer press conferences and sit-down interviews with independent journalists than virtually all of his predecessors. It is true that The Times has sought an on-the-record interview with Mr. Biden, as it has done with all presidents going back more than a century. If the president chooses not to sit down with The Times because he dislikes our independent coverage, that is his right, and we will continue to cover him fully and fairly either way.

However, in meetings with Vice President Harris and other administration officials, the publisher of The Times focused instead on a higher principle: That systematically avoiding interviews and questions from major news organizations doesn’t just undermine an important norm, it also establishes a dangerous precedent that future presidents can use to avoid scrutiny and accountability. That is why Mr. Sulzberger has repeatedly urged the White House to have the president sit down with The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, CNN and other major independent news organizations that millions of Americans rely on to understand their government.

https://www.nytco.com/press/a-statement-from-the-new-york-times-on-presidential-news-coverage/

News—

Justice Merchan’s signed order to show cause compelling Trump to attend a hearing on his latest alleged gag order violations has been released.

NEW: More evidence that Trump doesn’t give a shit about the men and women who risk and sacrifice their lives in service to our country’s intelligence apparatus. To him, potentially exposing sources is “neat” and “sexy”.

'So appalled': What witnesses told special counsel about Trump's handling of classified info while still president

An array of former associates described Trump's treatment of government secrets.

In the summer of 2019, only hours after an Iranian rocket accidentally exploded at one of Iran's own launch sites, senior U.S. officials met with then-president Donald Trump and shared a sharply detailed, highly classified image of the blast's catastrophic aftermath.

The image was captured by a U.S. satellite whose true capabilities were a tightly guarded secret. But Trump wanted to share it with the world -- he thought it was especially "sexy" because it was marked classified, one of his former advisers later recalled to special counsel Jack Smith's investigators, according to sources familiar with the former adviser's statements.

Worried that the image becoming public could hurt national security efforts, intelligence officials urged Trump to hold off until more knowledgeable experts were able to weigh in, the sources said. But less than an hour later, while at least one of those intelligence officials was in another building scrambling to get more information, Trump posted the image to Twitter.

"It was so upsetting, and people were really angry," one of Trump's former advisers told investigators, sources said.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/appalled-witnesses-told-special-counsel-trumps-handling-classified/story?id=109362691

The Foggy Dew. This tune first appeared in Edward Bunting's The Ancient Music of Ireland (1840) but it's best known for the lyrics given to it by Charles O’Neill that tell of the events that began this day, 24th of April, in 1916 🇮🇪

Secret Service prepares for if Trump is jailed for contempt in hush money case

The U.S. Secret Service held meetings and started planning for what to do if former President Donald Trump were to be held in contempt in his criminal hush money trial and Judge Juan Merchan opted to send him to short-term confinement, officials familiar with the situation told ABC News.

Merchan on Tuesday reserved decision on the matter after a contentious hearing. Prosecutors said at this point they are seeking a fine.

“We are not yet seeking an incarceratory penalty," assistant district attorney Chris Conroy said, "But the defendant seems to be angling for that."

Officials do not necessarily believe Merchan would put Trump in a holding cell in the courthouse but they are planning for contingencies, the officials said.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/secret-services-prepares-potential-trump-contempt-order-hush/story?id=109542824

America has a lot to lose. As I’ve learned, you don’t always have as much time as you think.

I didn’t need cancer to appreciate the grave threat to democracy America now faces. But the diagnosis did change my perspective.

The Republican Party’s slide into extremism — gradually and then suddenly, in the words of an Ernest Hemingway character — has been threaded throughout my four decades of political reporting for the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, CNBC, and CNN. The party’s increasing reliance on plutocrats for money and blue-collar whites for votes produced an incoherent coalition that, by the era of Donald Trump, left a single imperative: power at any cost.

That was a fact of life when Joe Biden’s administration began in the shadow of the Jan. 6 insurrection. But it largely remained in the background as the new president grappled with the COVID pandemic, economic recovery, and foreign policy challenges.

From the start, Biden declared that America was engaged in a global struggle pitting democratic systems against autocratic ones. In his second year, Biden delivered a major speech warning of the threat to democracy at home. In his third, I interviewed him on that subject. The political world mostly yawned.

A few weeks after the interview, however, something dramatic happened — to me.

https://zeteo.com/p/how-cancer-changed-my-perspective

!!! McConnell takes aim at Tucker Carlson

“the demonization of Ukraine began w/ Tucker Carlson”

He says Carlson “ended up right where he should’ve been, which was interviewing Putin”

McConnell lamented Carlson’s “enormous audience” that convinced “a lot of rank & file” R’s

Flags of the United States of America 🇺🇸 are in the walls of the Ukrainian Parliament 🇺🇦.

Today, MPs of Ukraine @ua_parliament 🇺🇦 once again expressed their gratitude to the United States and to every member of the House of Representatives 🇺🇸 who supported the Ukraine Aid Bill.

We look forward to a similar decision from the Senate 🇺🇸.

The United States has been and remains a strategic partner 🇺🇦 that stands shoulder to shoulder with the Ukrainian people in our fight against the russian aggressor!
🇺🇸🇺🇦