There is palpable fear that Donald Trump's upcoming presidency will, as he repeatedly promised during the 2024 campaign, bring systemic suppression of free speech and criminalization of dissent. In his victory speech, Trump called the media "the enemy of the people," a recurring refrain of his political career. His nominee to head the FBI, Kash Patel, has called for the prosecution of journalists and leakers.
I know what this looks like first-hand: I have represented national security and intelligence whistleblowers across the Obama, Trump and Biden administrations who've been investigated or prosecuted for leaking government secrets to the press. Those secrets revealed "dark ops" like torture, extraordinary rendition, mass domestic surveillance and drone assassinations. Many of these programs were later deemed to be illegal, unconstitutional or both.
