New York Times reporter Jonathan Swan just got a stunning reality check from both Bill Maher and author James Kirchick. Swan was spiraling over President Trump barring CNN and MS NOW from the White House, until Kirchick reminded him of some of the Obama-era media scandals. KIRCHICK: “During the Obama administration they tapped the AP bureau’s phones and the phones of AP bureau reporters. They tapped their phones!” Maher backed up some of the claims and seconded Kirchick’s point about the Obama administration. MAHER: “I looked this up about freezing out one…they did it with Fox News. Josh Earnest, he was in the Obama administration. He admitted it.” “The White House has demonstrated our willingness to exclude Fox News from news making interviews…” “This is exactly what…you know, this is what I say about this country. Everybody’s like this is the worst thing in the world except when we do it.” “And then it’s always perfectly okay.” Maher nailed the hypocrisy in one sentence. Well done.
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Replying to @overton_news
Fox was barred from one interview with a treasury official, other news outlets complained, admin backed down and let Fox in. Trump has barred three major news networks from covering the White House seemingly indefinitely. And there’s not even confirmation Obama approved the SINGLE interview in question. Trump is openly telling reporters “you shouldn’t be here” when not even at the White House. The false equivalency is off the charts.

Sep 27, 2026 · 1:39 AM UTC

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Umm, it wasn't a short lived ban and its disingenuous to portray it that way. It only ended up turning out that way because the other major networks protested, to their credit, and the admin buckled. It was only one network because that's all there was for conservatives.
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Umm, the Fox ban lasted literally hours. That's short-lived. And I'm not justifying it. I think it was wrong. But it was hours long, then Fox did the interview. There's no evidence Obama even knew about this or signed off on it. It was a SINGLE interview with Kenneth Feinberg at Treasury. Again, whatever else, it was wrong to ban Fox from that ONE interview. Trump has banned three major news networks indefinitely, in constantly defending it, and is maintaining the lawsuit trying to enforce the ban that remains ongoing since the ban began over a week ago, with no end in sight. JD is constantly defending it as well. Just today Trump said he loves the free press but doesn't want the fake press. That just means he doesn't want press who isn't constantly glazing him. So if it was wrong for Obama to do it, is it right for Trump to do it? Or are we in third grade?
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