# Comey Memo: Trump told him to consider jailing journalists **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 17, 2017, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-to-consider-jailing-journalists/786811 "2017-05-17T01:25:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-to-consider-jailing-journalists/786811/1 "2017-05-17T01:25:46Z")
This is a separate issue from the allegation that Trump told Comey to drop the Flynn investigation. [Trump reportedly asked Comey to consider imprisoning members of the press](http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/16/trump-allegedly-asked-comey-to-consider-imprisoning-members-of-the-press.html) > [@](#): > > Buried in the Times report is a note that Trump asked Comey to consider imprisoning reporters for publishing classified information. > > “Alone in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump began the discussion by condemning leaks to the news media, saying that Mr. Comey should consider putting reporters in prison for publishing classified information, according to one of Mr. Comey’s associates,” The New York Times said. > … > NBC News has verified information from the original New York Times report with two separate sources. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-to-consider-jailing-journalists/786811/2 "2017-05-17T01:32:20Z")
This is a “frightening, if true” news item. Further example of Trump’s authoritarian tendencies. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-to-consider-jailing-journalists/786811/3 "2017-05-17T01:35:27Z")
Trump thinks it’s cute to threaten others with jail, but we’ll see who’s laughing and who’s crying when Trump finds himself in a shower that only delivers cold water. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-to-consider-jailing-journalists/786811/4 "2017-05-17T02:05:19Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > Trump thinks it’s cute to threaten others with jail, but we’ll see who’s laughing and who’s crying when Trump finds himself in a shower that only delivers cold water. Will not happen. Ryan will not impeach, McConnell wouldn’t convict, and Pence would pardon, “in the best interests of the country.” Nobody involved wants Trump taking the stand and testifying before Congress or in any court, not just because he’d spew a bunch of shit that would smear them by association even if they truly weren’t aware what was going on, but also Trump would do everything in his mental midgetry powers to sew dissent among his following, splintering the GOP. If Trump sees the inside of a prison it’ll be because Angela Merkel had her fill, coldcocks him during a private discussion in the Oval Office, stuffs him in her duffel, and extraordinarily renders him back to Germany where European leaders take turns kicking the shit out of him until they’re bored and they rebulid Spandau Prison to house him. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Randolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Randolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randolph)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-to-consider-jailing-journalists/786811/5 "2017-05-17T02:09:09Z")
So true. Funny how it seems - always in time, but never in line for dreams. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-to-consider-jailing-journalists/786811/6 "2017-05-17T02:32:17Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > Trump thinks it’s cute to threaten others with jail, but we’ll see who’s laughing and who’s crying when Trump finds himself in a shower that only delivers cold water. But where he’ll have plenty of company. > [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > … If Trump sees the inside of a prison it’ll be because Angela Merkel had her fill, coldcocks him during a private discussion in the Oval Office, stuffs him in her duffel, and extraordinarily renders him back to Germany where European leaders take turns kicking the shit out of him until they’re bored and they rebulid Spandau Prison to house him. > > Stranger Works for me. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-to-consider-jailing-journalists/786811/7 "2017-05-17T06:44:34Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > This is a “frightening, if true” news item. Further example of Trump’s authoritarian tendencies. Did you miss the ‘classified info’ part? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-to-consider-jailing-journalists/786811/8 "2017-05-17T06:55:29Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Did you miss the ‘classified info’ part? [NY Times v. United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Times_Co._v._United_States) pretty much shuts down the idea that the government can punish the press for publishing classified info. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-to-consider-jailing-journalists/786811/9 "2017-05-17T07:12:07Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Did you miss the ‘classified info’ part? Most everyone seems to have missed it. Though apparently from the little research I have done, its not clear if and when publishing classified information becomes a crime. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-to-consider-jailing-journalists/786811/10 "2017-05-17T08:06:16Z")
I don’t think this is actually too much of a scandal. Publishing classified information is actually illegal, even if the FBI is reluctant to go after the mainstream press. But if you’re independent press, they’ll bring the hammer down, which is what’s really scary. The corporate media has privileges the little guys don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-to-consider-jailing-journalists/786811/11 "2017-05-17T08:13:03Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Most everyone seems to have missed it. Though apparently from the little research I have done, its not clear if and when publishing classified information becomes a crime. It’s also the case that “classified” is a very broad term, and a lot of important reporting involves classified information that the government doesn’t want the public getting for the government’s benefit, not the public’s benefit. The supreme court made it clear that you can’t jail journalists for reporting on this kind of thing. What Trump wants Comey to shut down is the leaks from within the white house. That stuff is probably classified, but it’s also absolutely standard reporting, an important check on the actions of the administration, crucial for us to know, and probably not classified for _our_ sake. It’s not some devastating national security issue that we know that Trump is asking the FBI director to jail journalists. It is a pretty significant boon to us that we _do_ know that. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-to-consider-jailing-journalists/786811/12 "2017-05-17T09:17:00Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > [NY Times v. United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Times_Co._v._United_States) pretty much shuts down the idea that the government can punish the press for publishing classified info. Well doesnt that make the whole Trump/Russian FM issue moot? People are leaking all over the place. Theoretically, the SC could revisit the issue as well. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-to-consider-jailing-journalists/786811/13 "2017-05-17T13:53:55Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > I don’t think this is actually too much of a scandal. Publishing classified information is actually illegal This is incorrect. It is not illegal to publish classified information. It is illegal for the person who was entrusted with the classified information to give it to someone else, but it is not illegal for the third party to have or publish the classified information. > **[Why the Press Can Publish Any Classified Material It Likes](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/05/why-the-press-can-publish-any-classified-material-it-likes/371488/)** > > Justice Hugo Black explained it in his 1971 opinion in New York Times v. United States. ---
**Author:** ![Chisquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Chisquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chisquirrel)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-to-consider-jailing-journalists/786811/14 "2017-05-17T14:05:24Z")
Just part of one of the opinions from NY Times v. United States: [QUOTE=Justice Hugo Black] In the First Amendment the Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to fulfill its essential role in our democracy. The press was to serve the governed, not the governors. The Government’s power to censor the press was abolished so that the press would remain forever free to censure the Government. The press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of government and inform the people. [/QUOTE] That seems a pretty rock solid “The government cannot tell the news what to print or attempt to censor them in any way”, with the caveats cited for Near v. Minnesota - crucial military information, obscenity, directly inciting “acts of violence”. Oh wait, that’s what Trump did. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-to-consider-jailing-journalists/786811/15 "2017-05-17T14:39:02Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > This is incorrect. It is not illegal to publish classified information. It is illegal for the person who was entrusted with the classified information to give it to someone else, but it is not illegal for the third party to have or publish the classified information. > > [Why the Press Can Publish Any Classified Material It Likes - The Atlantic](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/05/why-the-press-can-publish-any-classified-material-it-likes/371488/) It’s been a while since I studied mass media law but I think the media can indeed publish classified information with a few notable exceptions. For instance, I believe the government can file an injunction in advance of publication if the information poses a threat to national security or something along those lines. But it’s exceedingly rare. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-to-consider-jailing-journalists/786811/16 "2017-05-17T15:12:21Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > Trump thinks it’s cute to threaten others with jail, but we’ll see who’s laughing and who’s crying when Trump finds himself in a shower that only delivers cold water. With his ever-loving cellmate standing nearby caressing his man-boobs. ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2017, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-to-consider-jailing-journalists/786811/17 "2017-05-18T00:17:44Z")
Finally something Trump and Obama can agree on besides deporting Mexicans and killing babies in Yemen. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2017, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-to-consider-jailing-journalists/786811/18 "2017-05-18T14:44:19Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > Finally something Trump and Obama can agree on besides deporting Mexicans and killing babies in Yemen. Sad but true. Although I think the Obama administration targeted the leakers while Trump wanted to target the journalists who publish leaks. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comey-memo-trump-told-him-to-consider-jailing-journalists/786811/19 "2017-05-21T12:49:42Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > This is incorrect. It is not illegal to publish classified information. It is illegal for the person who was entrusted with the classified information to give it to someone else, but it is not illegal for the third party to have or publish the classified information. > > [Why the Press Can Publish Any Classified Material It Likes - The Atlantic](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/05/why-the-press-can-publish-any-classified-material-it-likes/371488/) Ah yes, thank you for the correction. It’s still true that this seems to only apply to corporate media.