Jamie Raskin And Nigel Farage Have Rough Clash Over Free Speech

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At today's House Judiciary Committee hearing, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) questioned UK PM Nigel Farage about threats to free speech.

Transcript

00:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman. You know, when I was a professor of constitutional law,

00:06I used to teach my students that freedom of speech is like an apple. And everybody wants

00:11to take just one bite out of the apple. Somebody doesn't like left-wing speech. There's a bite.

00:15Somebody doesn't like right-wing speech. Somebody doesn't like feminist speech. Somebody doesn't

00:19like sexist speech. And everybody just wants to take one bite. But if we let everybody take a

00:22bite, at the end of the day, there's no apple left. It's all gone. So if you want to defend

00:27free speech and you want a society that's defined by free speech, you've got to accept

00:31even the speech you oppose, the speech that you abhor. Now, Professor Kay, we want to try to bring

00:40some objectivity to the conversation. I looked up the Reporters Without Borders rankings of every

00:49country in the world, according to press freedom. Norway was number one. North Korea was number 179.

00:56It's like a totalitarian dungeon. The UK was number 20. The US was number 57 under Trump,

01:04down from 45, where it was before. Russia, which some people here lionize, was at 171, right? So

01:12if we were going to undertake a serious study of the state of press freedom all over the world,

01:17for example, where should our focus be?

01:19I appreciate that question. I have a very long list that I could highlight.

01:27But just tell us methodologically, quickly, how we should go about doing it if we wanted to

01:31undertake this in a serious way. Absolutely. I mean, I would really use the lens of what do we need

01:37as a democracy in order to be well-informed, in order to make choices about our democracy,

01:44to make choices about our health. What do we need? We need an open press. We need open government. We

01:50need access. We absolutely don't want to see websites scrubbed, as this administration has

01:56done. So I would look at it through that lens, through the lens of what we need in order to have

02:00a democracy. Gotcha. So Mr. Farage, first of all, to be called charming by you, a man of your evident

02:09erudition. And dazzling brilliance is undoubtedly a lifetime achievement award for me. So I will hold

02:15it closely. But I wanted to ask you about your commitment to the freedom of speech universally. I

02:22think it's a principle that you advocate for everyone, not just for people who are in your

02:26party or people you agree with. You said that there should not have been a protest against the Gaza

02:34war in the UK. And then when it went ahead, the police refused to shut it down. You called them

02:41gutless for not shutting it down. Do you regret having opposed that given that there was no violence

02:47there and there were 700,000 people who wanted to express themselves that day? I have not opposed

02:52people standing up and protesting in favour of people living in Gaza at all. There was one particular day

02:58and it was the Sunday nearest, November the 11th, which was when we had big memorial services in

03:05London. And I think a march being allowed to go ahead on that day would have been a mistake. Any

03:09other day, fine. Oh, I see. Who gets to decide that? Well, I think actually something that is embedded

03:16in the country, something that is absolutely fundamental. That's why we have a written constitution.

03:21You might take that idea back to the UK with you, because the freedom of speech applies 365 days a year

03:26here under the First Amendment, not 364 or 363, depending on some politicians heckling

03:33the government and telling them to shut down free speech. We have allowed mass pro-Gaza demonstrations

03:39in London weekend after weekend after weekend. No thanks to you. All right, let me change.

03:43This was one particularly sensitive day. That's all. I got you. It was a sensitive day. And I thought

03:50that's what the freedom of speech was about. You have a right to engage in speech that other people

03:54consider offensive or insensitive. But in any event, you've made yourself clear, Mr. Farage.

03:59They can do it for 64 days a year if they want.

04:01You've made yourself clear to your constituents in Claxton today. Let me ask you this.

04:05You've banned journalists from your political events that you disagree with, haven't you?

04:10No, in fact, I'm the only political... Really? At your convention, you didn't ban

04:13journalists and revoke their credentials? You know, I take, at the average press conference,

04:18I take 25 questions. No, no, that wasn't my question. Mr. Farage, we're politicians,

04:22so we see what you're doing. I'm asking you a direct... Well, thank you. I'm very pleased you do.

04:25I'm asking you a direct question, and I hope you can answer it. Why do you ban journalists who

04:30oppose your views from coming to your events? Why did you tell your party... Why did you tell the

04:35local government not to do interviews with your local newspaper? I am the most open person to any

04:43journalist... Undoubtedly. You're the handsomest man in the world. But I'm asking you a different

04:47question, okay? I do it every day. That's not my question. My question for you is, and it's legit,

04:51why do you ban journalists that you disagree with from your political events, like from your

04:55convention? I don't. Okay, and you say you've never done that? I can't think, if I go back the

05:01last 25 years, I can't think of banning anybody. But I mean, maybe somebody else did. But look, I...

05:06I see. It was somebody else who did it. I repeat the point. I do more... I take more questions... All right.

05:10From journalists... Do you have any objections... All the other leaders... Add it up together. Okay.

05:14Mr. Price, let me ask you. You're an honest man. Do you have any objection to the things you've

05:19heard about what Donald Trump is doing in the United States of America, going after law firms,

05:23for example, banning them from federal buildings and federal courthouses, stripping them of security

05:28clearance, saying they can never get federal jobs or contracts because he doesn't like something

05:32one of the lawyers at the firm did? Do you think there's a First Amendment problem with that,

05:36as our courts have found? There's a lot of information you've put into that. It's good

05:41to talk to you again after London. Yeah. Have you followed that at all?

05:43I haven't. I have to be perfectly honest with you now. Okay. Do you have any problems with

05:47anything Donald Trump has done with respect to free speech and freedom of expression in America,

05:51or you just haven't followed it? Not as well. There are plenty of people here

05:55better informed on American matters than I. And we are. So thank you very much. And Mr. Chairman,

05:59thank you for your indulgence. You'll bet. I thank the gentleman. My guess is Mr. Farage

06:03takes press questions probably as often as President Trump does. These are these are two

06:08guys who aren't afraid to talk to the press and take any question that comes to him. We've seen that.

06:12Uh, we've seen that display time and time again. The gentleman from California.

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