Top UN official: Trump attacking freedom of the press

The top human rights official in the United Nations says the freedom of the press is under attack by President Trump.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein said at a press conference Wednesday that Trump’s comments responding to the Charlottesville, Va., white supremacist rally could embolden people to attack journalists, according to Reuters.

”It’s really quite amazing when you think that freedom of the press, not only sort of a cornerstone of the U.S. Constitution but very much something that the United States defended over the years is now itself under attack from the president,” he said.

{mosads}“It’s sort of a stunning turnaround. And ultimately the sequence is a dangerous one,” he added.

Trump has frequently attacked the press throughout his campaign and since taking office, criticizing what he calls “fake news” and accusing journalists of being unpatriotic for reporting information he doesn’t believe reflects positively on him.

He lashed out last week over coverage of his reaction to the Charlottesville rally earlier this month, where a woman was killed and at least 19 were injured after a car drove into counterprotesters. Trump blamed “both sides” for the violence and specifically said there were good people on the white supremacists’ side and bad people among the counterprotesters.

At a rally last week in Phoenix, Trump said journalists are “truly dishonest people” for criticizing his reaction to the violence.