Dear Friend,

Mitch McConnell is going to Orwellian lengths to block public access to
Donald Trump's impeachment trial.

Journalists are being scanned by magnetometers for recording devices.
Reporters are corralled into a "pen" far away from senators’
conversations.^1 They even provided senators with cards listing phrases to
use to avoid the press.^2

Mitch McConnell has declared war on freedom of the press to prevent public
accountability for Trump and the senators who defend him. Demand Progress
is leading a coalition of groups pressuring the Senate to repeal its
anti-journalism restrictions and allow transparent access to the
impeachment trial.

[ [link removed] ]Will you donate to stop the Senate from censoring Trump’s impeachment
trial?

In an age when the White House produces edited “transcripts" of phone
calls and Mitch McConnell tries to dismiss impeachment charges without a
single witness, it could not be more important for the press to have
public accountability and access to the impeachment trial.

But McConnell is doing everything possible to make sure that doesn’t
happen.

According to a proposal leaked last week, only government cameras will be
allowed in the chamber, stopping the public from seeing which senators are
paying attention and how certain questions are asked and answered.
Journalists will be roped off from the senators who may want to speak to
the press.^3 The impeachment trial press rules are so restrictive that
even C-Span is mad!^4

Trump’s impeachment is an event of monumental historical importance, and
the legitimacy of our democracy is at stake. There is absolutely no reason
why Americans shouldn’t have open access to the trial, and the Senate
should, if anything, err on the side of more access, not less.

That’s why Demand Progress called on McConnell and the Senate Rules
Committee to cancel these draconian restrictions and open the impeachment
trials to press coverage. Organizations from the ACLU to Public Citizen
have signed on to the coalition letter, and now we need to publicize as
much as possible the Senate’s plan to censor the impeachment trial
coverage to raise an uproar.

[ [link removed] ]Will you donate to stop the Senate from censoring Trump’s impeachment
trial and protect freedom of the press?

Thanks for standing with us.

Robert Cruickshank,
Demand Progress

[ [link removed] ]DONATE

Sources:

1. National Coalition Against Censorhip, "NCAC Joins Call For Full Press
Access to Senate Impeachment Trial," [ [link removed] ]January 17, 2020
2. Business Insider, Capitol Police gave senators phrase cards with
suggestions to tell reporters covering impeachment to 'get out of my
way'," [ [link removed] ]January 16, 2020
3. The New York Times, "Even C-SPAN Is Piqued: Senate Puts Limits on Trial
Coverage," [ [link removed] ]January 19, 2020
4. Ibid.
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