Maher, Poitras: Obama ‘Perhaps the Worst President’ on Press Treatment

HBO host Bill Maher and filmmaker Laura Poitras, who worked with Glenn Greenwald on the Edward Snowden story, dubbed President Obama “perhaps the worst president we’ve had on clamping down on the press” on Friday’s “Real Time.”

Maher began by questioning the president’s sincerity on NSA reform, saying “he [Obama] was asked about Snowden, he said ‘I don’t think he’s a patriot’ and then he went on to say that ‘hey, you know what, a lot of this stuff that he was talking about I was going to do,’ but it seems like it really wasn’t going to happen without this.” Poitras agreed, adding “Obama also promised to close Guantanamo, and Guantanamo’s still open.”

The two disagreed over how much blame the president deserved for Guantanamo, but Maher then stated “I don’t understand why he is perhaps the worst president we’ve had on clamping down on the press. I mean, he’s used the Espionage Act more than any other president, right?” Poitras added “yeah, it’s more than any other president, I think it’s nine times, nine people being charged under the Espionage Act, and many journalists being put under investigation for doing their job, which is to hold the government accountable.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett

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