FIRST AMENDMENT? WHAT FIRST AMENDMENT?
Sarah Sanders Uses Official Account to Urge Americans to Go After ‘Complicit’ NY Times – Twitter Explodes

‘Using an Official Government Social Media Account to Incite and Encourage Harassment…and to Threaten the Press?’
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders late Thursday morning urged Americans to go after The New York Times, which on Wednesday published a devastating op-ed from a senior Trump administration official blasting the president and the White House. She did so from her official White House Twitter account, which at the very least should raise eyebrows from First Amendment advocates.
“The media’s wild obsession with with the identity of the anonymous coward is recklessley tarnishing the reputation of thousands of great Americans who proudly serve our country and work for President Trump,” Huckabee Sanders tweeted. “Stop. If you want to know who this gutless loser is, call the opinion desk of the failing NYT,” she continued, offering the newspaper’s telephone number.
“They are the only ones complicit in this deceitful act,” she added.
For those of you asking for the identity of the anonymous coward: pic.twitter.com/RpWYPHa6To
— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) September 6, 2018
Her father joined in, calling the paper of record “the NY Slimes.”
Too bad it isn’t a toll free number, but call the NY Slimes and ask them. https://t.co/D1DGmvqdTg
— Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) September 6, 2018
One conservative columnist called the move “disturbing.”
I am very often defensive of how Sec. Sanders does her job. But this is wrong. She’s basically telling supporters to deluge the Times offices with calls to impair their function. They can be mad about the op-ed, but this is disturbing. https://t.co/tpf3xTUpeQ
— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) September 6, 2018
And a journalist turned the tables on the press secretary:
If you think this is inappropriate targeting of the press to cover for an administration mired in chaos and corruption, call the White House switchboard at (202) 456-1414 and ask for the Office of the Press Secretary. https://t.co/EGnuRcA4gT
— Mark Harris (@MarkHarrisNYC) September 6, 2018
Meanwhile, other Twitter users were not amused:
Earlier this summer five journalists were shot and killed in their newsroom.
Today the Press Secretary of the President of United States is promoting the harassment and verbal assault on the newsroom of the @nytimes https://t.co/L8KdMRsPDA
— CSGV (@CSGV) September 6, 2018
So, to clarify, you are using an official government social media account to incite and encourage harassment of a private business, and to threaten the press?
Y’all really do hire “only the best, smartest people”… https://t.co/F6PZb3051V
— Bärí A. Williams (@BariAWilliams) September 6, 2018
So glad you’re talking about the cowards who work in your administration. Let’s start with the ones who kidnapped thousands of innocent children at the border and then lied about it. https://t.co/6Otdt3Ntgp
— Liz Plank (@feministabulous) September 6, 2018
Yes Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the official spokesperson for the President of the United States. The actual official spokesperson. She has resorted to asking the public to phone up a newspaper and complain https://t.co/0sFAypeOA5
— Daniel Sandford (@BBCDanielS) September 6, 2018
The press secretary calling anonymous sources cowards is another example of this administration attacking the media for simply doing their job. https://t.co/hRHt9HoOq3
— Thicc Darko (@DarkoSchmarko) September 6, 2018
Sanders: The NYT shows that the administration I work in is suffering from serious and dangerous dysfunction. I’d better… jam the NYT’s switchboard. https://t.co/vrIMaLiMja
— Seth Masket (@smotus) September 6, 2018
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