Former New York Times Editor Jill Abramson gave her first television interview since she was fired Wednesday night and stood by her previous criticisms of President Barack Obama’s administration. Abramson had repeatedly called the administration “the most secretive” in history.
Abramson has covered in some capacity every administration since Jimmy Carter and said it was “easy to demonstrate” that her declaration on the administration’s transparency was true, marking the second time this week that Obama has been called worse than Carter.
“I’ve never dealt with an administration where more officials — some of whom are actually paid to be the spokesmen for various federal agencies — demand that everything be off the record,” Abramson said in her interview on “On the Record.”
But she said the most serious offenses the administration has made have been the “eight criminal leak investigations of sources and whistleblowers.”
“They have really put a freeze on and interrupted the flow of journalists who want to cover Washington and national security, especially,” she said.
Abramson called it “profoundly different” than Obama’s predecessors and said it was “not the way the public deserves it to be covered.”
Her comments come just days after White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest’s claims of transparency on CNN. Abramson addressed his argument and said, “These criminal cases outweigh all of the good they’ve done.”
Watch the full interview below:
