Trump chief of staff: ‘We’ve looked at’ changing libel laws

White House chief of staff Reince Priebus said during an interview on Sunday the Trump administration has “looked into” changing libel laws.

“I think it’s something that we’ve looked at, and how that gets executed or whether that goes anywhere is a different story,” Priebus said on ABC’s “This Week.”

“But when you have articles out there that have no basis or fact and we’re sitting here on 24/7 cable companies writing stories about constant contacts with Russia and all these other matters.”

Trump has repeatedly suggested he wanted to “open up” libel laws during his campaign.

{mosads}In February 2016, Trump said he would “open up our libel laws so when [media] write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money.”

Last month, he also tweeted threatening to “change libel laws” to go after The New York Times.

“[The New York Times] has disgraced the media world. Gotten me wrong for two solid years. Change libel laws?” he tweeted in March.

The failing @nytimes has disgraced the media world. Gotten me wrong for two solid years. Change libel laws? https://t.co/QIqLgvYLLi

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 30, 2017

“I think that newspapers and news agencies need to be more responsible with how they report the news,” Priebus said Sunday, referring to what he said are articles with “no basis or fact.”

Any change to libel laws would likely require a constitutional amendment, as they vary by state and there are no federal libel laws.