[inaudible conversations] the subcommittee will come to order. Without objection the chair has authorized to declare a recess at anytime. We welcome every the subcommittee will come to order. Without objection, the chair iso authorized to declare a recess at any time. We welcome everybody to todays hearing on a free press and protecting journalists. I will remind everybody that the guests in the chamber guests and you are free to be here but this is no audience participation in the hearing. This is a hearing and we will conduct it accordingly. I will not recognize myself for an opening statement. Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press and that cannot be limited without being lost. Those words were true when Thomas Jefferson wrote them in 1786 and they are still true today. First amendment to the constitution guarantees freedom of the press and prohibits the federal government from making any law abridging the freedom. In its concurrence, the New York Times versus the United States, justice hugo black stated, in the First Amendment, the Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to fulfill the essential role in our democracy. The press was to serve the government, not the governor. The framers of the constitution hailed the freedom of the press as the most important political liberty and the keystone upon which all our other freedoms rely. As this bill indicates, journalists are often the first to expose government abuse, waste, fraud, and encroachment on the personal freedoms we hold dear. Sadly, freedom of the press is under attack in our country from multiple angles, the white house, acting judges and Mainstream Media networks. For example, the Obama White House illegally spied on investigative journalists journalist Sharyl Attkisson by allegedly hacking her cell phone to determine the identity of a confidential source. We also saw the Obama Administration take an adversarial position regarding freedom of the press when it sought to silence anyone blowing the whistle on the federal government waste and abuse by seizing the phone records of Associated Press reporters and editors who use sourced materials to write stories. The phone records seized were not just those owned by the press but also personal, home, and so on. The seizure of these records was such an alarming step by the federal government that a coalition of 50 News Organizations including abc, cnn, the New York Times and Washington Post submitted a letter of protest to then attorney general about the raid which stated that the administrations action called into question the very integrity of the department of justices policies for the president s ability to balance on its own its Police Powers against First Amendment rights of the news media and Public Interest in reporting on all manner of conduct. The Obama Administrations moronta free press showed us that executive interference has a Chilling Effect that this incentivizes whistleblowers and sources from coming forward with little information. That chilling and eventually freezing out effect harms the quality and integrity of journalism on a major scale. Meanwhile, we have seen the biden and Garland Justice Department arrest and prosecute journalist e baker who was reporting from the u. S. Capitol building on january 6 on the events that took place inside the capital. We also recently saw a federal court order, investigative journalist Catherine Herridge, who identified a confidential source and then hold her in contempt when she exercised her First Amendment right to maintain the sources confidentiality. First amendment advocates on both sides of the aisle have warned that Government Action such as this could have devastating consequences for a free press. Around the same time, cbs news terminated ms. Herridge s employment and took unprecedented action in regards to her belongings including source materials. Cbs news officials reportedly boxed up and seized some of the materials in her office including her investigative files and laptop computer with the intent to search through items to segregate materials ms. Herridge addressed or worked on for cbs news. Cbs news planned the materials and threatened to trample upon her First Amendment rights and could have divulged Confidential Sources stemming from her previous work with other networks. Along the same lines, we have also seen a federal government seek to impermissibly shape news stories, even coercing social Media Companies to remove content on their platforms relating to foreign influence peddling by the president and his family. Todays hearing is about defending our fundamental liberty and protecting journalists and their sources from these attacks. We will examine the federal governments infringement on the freedom of the press and examine the prospects for a federal shield law. On july 19, 2023, the House Committee on the judiciary, with a vote of 230 that does not often happen in the House Judiciary Committee, 23 0, favorably reported on the reports from xplay tatum states press act. In january of this year, the full house passed the press act. The press act was written to prohibit the federal government from compelling journalists to identify a source as well as any records, communication, documents or information obtained and created by journalists in the course of their work. The significance of the press act cannot be understated. It ensures a free press, independent from an executive branch that seeks to attack or harass journalists in order to identify their Confidential Sources. Now that the house has done its job and stood up to fight for the freedom of the press, it is now the senates turn to take up legislation and continue congresss commitment to protecting our fundamental freedom. Our constitutional guarantee of a free press is under attack. It is our job to stand up for that right and protect journalists and their sources. I look forward to hearing from all of our distinguished Witnesses Today who will all bring unique personal and professional perspectives to this important issue. Please note that a joint schedule of congress is scheduled for 11 00 amn the committee will recess for the duration of that session and gavel back in shortly after. I now yield to the Ranking Member for her opening statement. Thank you mr. Chairman. The necessity for a guarantee of a free press is one of the fundamental pillars of our democratic republic, predating and inspiring both our constitution and the First Amendment. We all know that a democracy only truly works when its citizens are properly informed and a free press contributes to this rule by ensuring truth and accountability from those in power. A free press informs the American People of the important policy issues and Government Actions that may impact their lives and can reveal in confidence, corruption , deceit, fraud, or bad state by political candidates and Government Officials. That is attempts by government actors and wouldbe leaders to undermine the press weather by promoting conspiracy theories and lies, attacking members of the press with whom they disagree, or undermining the presss ability to obtain Vital Information our an assault on the pillars of our democratic foundation. One particular way this occurs is when the government seeks to compel journalists to disclose the identity of Confidential Sources. I think it is important at the outset here to talk about the different ways where the government can compel. It is one thing for the government to seek access to Confidential Sources but it is another when a court is enforcing the law that is written because congress has not acted to create a law. Confidential sources provide crucial information to report if it helps them to share full and impactful stories with the public and government attempts to undermine the confidentiality of those sources he roads the presss ability to perform that function. The press cannot protect its sources and important truths may never come to light and americans and our democracy supper. Unfortunately, under both republican and democratic administrations going back decades, we have seen the government and attempt to crackdown, sees phone and email records or seek to compel them to release the identities of their sources. For example, the trump Administrations Department of justice seized phone records from three Washington Post reporters and try to obtain their emails and an attempt to identify Confidential Sources. That trump doj similarly attempted to obtain these types of records from reporters at cnn and the New York Times and that is, of course, on top of that administrations other troubling threat to press freedom such as tracking, detaining, and interrogating journalists reporting on conditions at the u. S. mexico border. In response to these and other instances, the house four times since 2007 passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, a federal reporter shield law. That is legislation to protect journalists and prevent the government from compelling them to reveal their Confidential Sources with certain exception. In fact, former Vice President mike pence, then a member of the committee, first introduced this legislation in 2005. More recently, representatives kevin kiley and jamie raskin helped with the passage of 40 to 50, the protect reporters from xplay tatum state act or press act. As mentioned, that bill passed the house this past january unanimously by voice vote under the rules and that is, as the chairman noted, after this committee had reported it favorably by a bipartisan 230 vote. The press act, would among other things, create a qualified federal statutory privilege that protects journalists from being compelled by a federal entity to reveal Confidential Sources and information. The bill also protects Third Party Service providers for Telecommunications Carriers and Interactive Computer Services from being compelled by the government to reveal information on a journalists account or device. Unfortunately, despite the house repeatedly and its strong bipartisan support, passing some ford of federal reporter field legislation, the senate has yet to act. Todays hearing should be an opportunity to spur the senate to action. We are concerned that our republican colleague has squandered that chance at a hearing and instead are trying to crank up some rightwing conspiracy theories. Make no mistake. We intend to move forward and try to promote both the press act and our constitutional protections. There is little evidence of ideological bias at cbs news as was suggested and even if those allegations are true, congress would risk exceeding its Constitutional Authority by intervening. Private News Organizations, whether cbs, msnbc, or fox, speaks through their journalist employees. Congress tried to punish or shape News Coverage, either directly through legislation or indirectly through a pressure campaign, it would run afoul of the spirit, if not the letter of the First Amendment and potentially violate the News Organizations freespeech rights and its right to editorial controls over its own content. Today, we hope to inquire further from our witnesses and why it is long past time for congress to enact the act. Democracy is already under assault on numerous fronts and we should not be adding fuel to the fire. Lets focus on something that would actually protect press freedom, completely within our Article One Authority and duty and lets talk about the critical need for federal reporter shield legislation. I thank our witnesses for being here and i yield back. The committee will be in order. I think the Ranking Member for her Opening Statements. I now recognize the chairman of the full committee, mr. Jordan for his Opening Statements. It is not just the press that is under attack. Every single liberty we enjoy under the First Amendment has been assaulted in the last couple of years. Think about it, you are right to assemble, your right to petition the governments free press, free speech. Americans, couple of years ago, americans were told they could not go to church on sunday. Think about that. 2 1 2 years ago i spoke to the new Mexico Republican party in amarillo, texas because they had to go to texas because they could not do it in their own darn state where they pay taxes because the governor would not let them. You want to petition your member of congress . You could not do it because the speaker would not let you in, your own darn capital that you pay for. Most important to a free press and free speech, we are going to hear about the press today and what happened to two of our witnesses, how freedom of the press they went after ms. Sharyl attkisson, ms. Herridge. This is scary. Just a couple of weeks ago i went to the argument i went to the argument for the Supreme Court, we had a justice on the United StatesSupreme Court in a big justice case where Big Government pressures censor speech, not just conservative speech, all speech. That is frightening. We went to the argument in front of the Supreme Court and one of the justices said to the solicitor general from louisiana, counselor, your position has the First Amendment hamstringing the government. That is exactly what it is supposed to do, for goodness sake. This is about the First Amendment and a free press is essential to having a robust First Amendment and free debate in our culture. If you dont have free debate, you cant settle your dispute by arguing and debating, the alternative is frightening. There is no more important hearing than this and i want to thank our chairman and i really want to thank our witnesses for being here. This is of critical importance. You know what . This is why weve got to pass the press field act. The house has got it. Lets hope the senate can figure it out. We passed it so we dont have this happening. We had a situation in this committee room. We had members of this committee who were there that day where my colleagues on the other side, we had the witness stand and we had colleagues on the other side pressuring him to diebold his sources in a hearing in congress. To me, that is scary as well. This is a critically important hearing with great witnesses and i look forward to hearing their testimony and the questions that follow. With that, i yield back. I think the chairman. I will now recognize the Ranking Member of the full committee, mr. Nadler for his full statements. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Over the course of the last two decades, repeated overzealous prostitution of leaks of the press have made it clear that Congress Needs to enact a federal reporters law. Congress must protect journalists from being compelled to reveal their Confidential Sources in order to ensure the free flow of information in matters related to the Public Interest. During the 117 congress when i was chairman of the committee, we came together in a bipartisan vote to pass the press act which would protect journalists and their Confidential Sources from compelled to disclosure except in certain rare circumstances. It later pass the house and similar bipartisan. Fortunately, the senate did not act on the bill. Everyone in the committee under chairman jordans leadership built on this strong action and moved the press once again to this congress in the unanimous vote of 230. They can past the house by one vote. Even a casual observer of the 118 congress understands how rare it is for me, chairman jordan, and the entire house they have repeatedly come together to advance an important bill on a bipartisan basis. We continue to share the goal of