Senate

Senators to Trump: Reverse ‘troubling’ media crackdown

by Jordain Carney - 01/25/17 7:07 PM ET

Senate Democrats are urging President Trump to drop a reported crackdown on federal agencies limiting their ability to release public information.

Twelve senators — led by Massachusetts Democrat Ed Markey — sent Trump a letter on Wednesday stressing they are “gravely troubled” by reports that the new administration is telling federal employees to limit the information they give to reporters, post on social media or turn over to Congress.

The senators pointed to reports that the Trump team had effectively placed a “gag order” on career employees at the the Environmental Protection Agency and departments of Health and Human Services, Interior and Agriculture.

“The American people expect an open, transparent and honest government, and your actions are not only contrary to that expectation, they promote a long lasting culture of fear among federal employees and prevent them from following their mission to openly serve the American public,” the senators wrote.

{mosads}They added, “Given your commitment to the rule of law and peaceful transition of power, we respectfully ask that you immediately reverse course.”

Though the order was reportedly dropped at the Department of Agriculture, the early moves are sparking backlash and concerns that Trump is attempting to silence dissenting views and control the messaging from federal agencies.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Tuesday they were “looking into” whether the administration had changes the rules for agencies sharing information publicly.

“I don’t think it’s any surprise that when there’s an administration turnover that we’re going to review the policies,” Spicer said, “but … I don’t have information at this time.”

Asked about deleted tweets from national park Twitter accounts and whether there is a broader effort by the White House to limit communications from federal agencies, he added on Wednesday that “there’s nothing that’s come from the White House, absolutely not.”

But the senators warned that it is against the law to interfere with a federal agency’s ability to communicate with Congress and that the broader effort goes against the populist rhetoric of Trump’s presidential campaign.

“These actions undermine trust in our federal government and do little to support your ‘drain the swamp’ pledge to ‘make the government honest again,'” the senators wrote.

In addition to Markey, Democratic Sens. Tom Udall (N.M.), Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), Ron Wyden (Ore.), Tom Carper (Del.), Tammy Baldwin (Wis.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Patrick Leahy (Vt.), Cory Booker (N.J.), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Maria Cantwell (Wash.) and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) signed the letter.