THE LETTER Oct 25, 2018 On the heels of the recent brutal murder of a The Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, President Donald Trump chose to celebrate the assault of The Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs by an American congressman—an attack that occurred while the journalist was simply doing his job, posing questions to a politician. Montana Congressman Greg Gianforte (R) body- slammed Jacobs, knocking him to the ground and beating him severely enough to send him to the hospital. Although Gianforte pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor assault and was fined, the President of the United States praised this violent behavior at a Trump rally in Missoula, Montana, on October 18. Trump’s condoning of political violence is part of a sustained pattern of attack on a free press— which includes labeling any reportage he doesn’t like as “fake news” and barring reporters and news organizations whom he wishes to punish from press briefings and events. One of the pillars of a free and open democracy is a vibrant free press. At his inauguration the President of the United States swears to protect the U.S. Constitution, including the First Amendment. 1 This President is utterly failing to do so and actively working not simply to undermine the press, but to incite violence against it as well. In a lawsuit filed by PEN, the writer’s organization, against Donald Trump, they charge him with violating the First Amendment. We, the undersigned, past and present members of the Fourth Estate, support this action. We denounce Donald Trump's behavior as unconstitutional, un-American and utterly unlawful and unseemly for the President of the United States and leader of the free world. ### The Signatories 1. Sam Donaldson, ABC News White House correspondent, ret. 2. Dan Cordtz, Economics correspondent, ABC News 3. Anne Garrels, ABC News and NPR correspondent, ret. 4. Jim Hickey, ABC-TV Correspondent and ABC News Radio National Correspondent, ret. 5. Mike Lee, ABC News Correspondent, ret. 6. Bob Brown, ABC News Correspondent, ret. 7. George Strait, Chief Science and Medical Correspondent, ABC News, ret. 2 8. Hilary Brown, retired foreign correspondent, ABC News, former Anchor, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation 9. David Ensor, Director GWU Project for Media and National Security, former Correspondent for NPR, ABC News and CNN 10. James Walker, ABC News Correspondent, ret. 11. Charles Glass, former Chief Mideast Correspondent, ABC News 12. Lynn Sherr, Correspondent ABC News, ret., author/ freelance journalist 13. Peter Lance, ABC News Correspondent (ret.) Investigative author HarperCollins; Contributor HuffPost 14. Al Dale, ABC News correspondent, 1978-96, ret. 15. Chris Kelley, correspondent, CBS NEWS, ret. 16. Ken Kashiwahara, ABC News correspondent, ret. 17. Wolfgang Achtner, former Reporter/Producer ABC News, former Correspondent CNN, Professor of TV News Reporting, University of Siena & Unversity of Perugia 18. Sissel McCarthy, former Anchor and Reporter CNN and CNBC 19. Ron Olson, formerly Reporter, KABC-TV, ret. 20. Judy Muller, ABC News Correspondent, ret.; Professor Emerita, USC Annenberg School of Journalism and Communication 3 21. Karen Burnes, Anchor/Correspondent/Producer, ABC and CBS News 22. Jim Slade, Science Correspondent, ret. 23. Rick Kaplan, former President of CNN and MSNBC, Executive Producer of The CBS Evening News, World News Tonight, Nightline and Primetime Live 24. Av Westin, former Senior VP and Executive Producer, ABC News, ret. 25. Ed Eaves, Editor/Producer, ABC and NBC News 26. Paul Friedman, Executive Producer, NBC News, ABC News, ret. 27. David Buksbaum, former Senior Producer, ABC News, Vice President CBS News, ret. 28. Andrea McCarren, former White House Correspondent and News One Correspondent, ABC News 29. Gil Gross, former Senior Correspondent and Anchor, ABC News Radio 30. Helen Westwood, Washington Coordinating Producer, Primetime Live; London Bureau Chief, ABC TV News, ret. 31. Kathy O’Hearn, former Executive Producer, ABC/CNN/MSNBC 32. Derwin Johnson, former CNN and ABC Producer & Middle East Bureau Chief, former Associate Professor, Columbia Univ. Graduate School of Journalism 33. Thomasina Nista Chaffardet, Director of New Media, ABC News, ret. 4 34. Dianne Drummey Marino, Producer, NBC News & WNBC News, ret. 35. Jamie Deans, former Producer, ABC News 2020 36. Dawn Ennis, former ABC News Assignment Editor, GMA Writer and Field Producer, Producer, NBC News 37. Linda Pattillo, former ABC News Correspondent, Lecturer in Journalism, Georgia State University 38. Ed Freedman, Producer, CBS News & ABC News, ret. 39. John Beattie, former Producer, ABC News, ret. 40. Carmen Dixon, former Producer, Primetime Live, World News Tonight 41. Steve North, Correspondent, NBC Radio, and Writer, CBS News, ret. 42. Nick Young, Correspondent, CBS News, Radio, ret. 43. Robert Daley, New York Times correspondent and author, ret. 44. Betsy Aaron, ABC, NBC, CNN 45. Kayce Freed Jennings, Former Producer, ABC News 46. Justin Friedland, Senior Producer, ABC News Special Events, WNT, Morning News, ret. 47. John Lower, Producer, ABC News, ret. 48. Todd Easton, Producer WNT, ABC News 49. Richard O’Regan, freelance journalist, former Producer ABC News, CBS News, CBC 5 News, the Christian Science Monitor, New York Times Television 50. Bob Hoenig, former Senior Editor, ABC Radio 51. Bernice Vann Homstrom, ABC News, ret. 52. Mark Haimowitz, BO&E, ABC News, ret. 53. Willian Lynch, ABC News Film & Videotape Library 54. Richard L. Hess, former BO&E systems engineer 55. Mike Rebich, ABC News Cameraman 56. Warner W. Johnston, ABC Transmission Engineer 57. Joanne Mallie, Executive Producer, CBS News,ret. 58. Evalyn Lee, Producer, CBS News, ret. 59. William Bores, ABC Network Technical Director & NABET-CWA Local 16 Executive Board 60. Lisa Rosenberg, Producer, GMA Sunday, ret. 61. Jane Aylor, Director, Bureau Operations, ABC News DC., ret 62. Sharon Sforza Brender, Director of News Production, ABC News DC, ret. 63. Bernadine Rideau, ABC News PA/AD 64. Frank A. Dalecki, Jr., Producer/Writer, CBS News Radio, ret. 65. Lyn Henderson, Past President, Women in Film & Television, Florida Chapter 66. Meredith Wheeler, Writer and Producer, ABC News ret. 6 67. Phil Paine, Senior Engineer, London ENG Operations 68. Eddie Land, Former DA, WABC TV and ABC News 69. George Merlis, Former Executive Producer, Good Morning America, CBS Morning News. 70. Linda Maskin Fuller, ABC News 71. Dave Cohen, News Editor, ABC, ret. 72. Tara Sonenshine, former Editorial Producer, ABC NEWS Nightline, Former U.S. Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, currently at George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs 73. Eileen O’Connor, Attorney and former CNN White House and Moscow Bureau Chief 74. Ellen Bradley Watson, Executive Secretary to David Burke, Exec VP, ABC News 75. Marianne Keeley Stack, ABC News Producer, ret. 76. Barbara Silber, former AD, ABC Radio Net 77. Bill Harris, Editor, ABC News Editor, ret. 78. Laura Hughes, ABC News, Audio technician, ret. 79. Frank Radice, ABC News Producer, ret. 80. L. Aviva Diamond, former Correspondent, ABC News, former Reporter, The Miami Herald 81. Dick Hubert, Producer-Writer, ABC NEWS SCOPE, ret. 82. Andy Lewis, Editor, ABCNews London, ret. 83. Cass Wagner, Camera: Local, Net, Sports, GMA, ABC TV 7 84. Wendy Vega, Sound mixer, WABCTV and KABCTV 85. Jody Serensits, ENG audio technician, ABC, ret. 86. Jorge Bouza, Sound mixer ABC/CBS, Miami Bureau 87. Dina Cholack, ABC News, former Producer/Assignment Editor 88. Mark Teboe, ENG Camera, Freelance ABC, NBC, CBS, Al Jazeera International 89. Val Wickens-Smith, former ABSAT Manager, ABC News 90. Kelly Woods Traudt, former DA NewsOne 91. Lori Hoffman, Producer, Bloomberg News, ret. 92. Al Wasser, Writer/Editor, ABC & CBS News (ret.) 93. Barbara Silber, former AD, ABC Radio Network 94. Lynn Flaster, Writer, Producer, Reporter, NBC News, Connecticut Public Television, ret. 95. Jeff Kreiner, Senior Vice President, CBS News Marketing, Senior V.P. NBC East Coast 96. Jack Cloherty, former Producer, ABC News 97. Jacqueline Cutty, former Satellite Desk Coordinator, ABC News 98. Robert J. Murphy, Producer/Direction, ABC News 99. Andy Kay, freelance ENG Cameraman, ABC Sports/ESPN, CBS Sports, NBC, NFL Network 100. Jeanne Amato-Collins, Assist. to correspondents and producers, ABC News 8 101. Stu Schutzman, Senior producer, WNT ABC News, ret. 102. Joe Donnelly, Producer ABC News, ret 103. David Riley, WXYZ-TV Technical Director, Action News, ret. 104. Rusty Lutz, ABC News Radio Assignment Editor DC, ret. 105. Liza Levine, Assoc. Producer, ABC News, ret. 106. Jill Landes, Producer, CBS News, ret. 107. Lew Strauss, CNN and ABC News, ret. 108. Dean Hovell, former World News Tonight Sr. Operations Producer, DC 109. Jacqueline Calnan, Former ABC News Assignment Editor, ret. 110. Ted David, ABC News Correspondent 1978- 1985, Anchor, CNBC 1989-2009 111. Carolyn Dunlavy, former BO&E computer graphics technician DC 112. Su Ronneburger, WABC Radio engineer, NYC, 1979-2014 113. Nancy Wilkerson, former ADE KABC-TV 114. Ann Benjamin, Director, WNET 115. Laura Wessner, ABC News Nightline Senior Press Representative, ret. 116. Jim Murphy, News Editor, LA Times; reporter, KCAL, News 12 CT 117. Mardi Camille Tatton, former PA/AD ABC News 118. Shelley Ross, former Executive Producer ABC News, CBS News 9 119. Carol Williams, former Executive Producer, ABC News and NBC News 120. Rob Vint, Director, ABC News 121. Charlie Reina, writer, CBS Radio News, ret. 122. Naomi S. Boak, former executive producer, Twin Cities Public Television 123. Jeff Suarez, Technical Director, ABC-TV, ret. 124. Kristin Whiting, Former Correspondent/Producer ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN National Geographic 125. Jerry Zweben, TV network staff Associate Director. ret. 126. Gil Longin, Writer/Editor, ABC Radio News, ret. 127. Kathleen O’Neill, former DA, Midwest Bureau, ABC News. Writer, ABCNews.com 128. Moe Thomas, ABC News Master Control, NAC Operations 129. Hal Feldman Digital News Director, NewsOne, Editor/Videographer WABC- TV, WCAU-TV 130. Michael Risner, Journalist and Production Management, WCJB TV, WPTV TV 131.