CNN’s Jake Tapper had the perfect response when the spokesman for the Department of Justice claimed to speak up for press freedom on Wednesday night.
Brian Fallon tweeted in support of Huffington Post reporter Ryan J. Reilly, who was arrested Wednesday night for simply doing his job of covering the tensions in Ferguson, Missouri. Fallon called Reilly “gutsy” for his coverage of the protests and said the DOJ is “lucky” to have him.
The problem, as Tapper pointed out, is that Fallon is currently part of the administration threatening to jail another journalist, James Risen, for doing his job.
(snip)
Jake Tapper @jaketapper
.@brianefallon how do you distinguish between the “gutsy” reporters and the one the administration is threatening to put in jail?
11:27 PM - 13 Aug 2014
http://www.vogue.com/865355/the-strategist-katie-beirne/
Moving to Washington, she began working for Senator Schumer and quickly rose to become his legislative director. It was in the senator’s office that, in 2007, she met Brian Fallon, a sharp, darkly handsome Harvard grad five years her junior, who currently serves as Schumer’s communications director and head of communications for the DPCC. Theirs was a classic Capitol Hill romance between two smart, ambitious young staffers who, they tell me over octopus and sweet peppers at Graffiato, a buzzy restaurant near their Gallery Place apartment, both describe themselves as foodies. Despite this shared passion, their courtship largely took place in briefing rooms and in the conversations they had while working up answers for Sunday-morning talk shows. “I was so impressed by how smart she was,” Fallon says with a wry grin, “that I became competitive with her.” Happily, Beirne was impressed back. The two were married in December, one of an amazing eight marriages between Schumer staffers.
“The positive spin on this,” says Schumer, laughing, “is that we have a very close-knit staff. The negative spin is that they work so hard they never have a chance to meet anyone else.”
He may not be kidding. “On a typical morning,” Beirne tells me, “ I wake up to the sound of Brian clicking on his BlackBerry. We take three newspapers. I usually turn on the Today show and he has Morning Joe in the side room, and our dialogue is all about ‘What are we going to do today? What issues should we hit?’ Then at night we review what happened that day to measure our accomplishments.”
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/12/white-house-new-legislative-affairs-director-101131.html
White House names new legislative affairs director, Katie Beirne Fallon
2/13/13 10:52 AM EST
Katie Beirne Fallon, a former top staffer to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), will be named White House Legislative Affairs director – a move intended to shore up a Hill operation that has long needed stronger leadership in the view of many congressional Democrats, POLITICO has learned.
(snip)
Fallon, according to West Wing officials, will have much more stature and authority, akin to that enjoyed by Rob Nabors, the former legislative director now serving as an Obama deputy chief of staff. White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough picked her, in part, because of her close ties to Senate Democratic leaders and recently arranged a meeting with between Obama and Fallon to “diagnose the challenges the White House faces with the Hill and come up with a plan for addressing them,” according to a person close to the situation.
“Miguel has served this President with distinction for five years, beginning on day one of the Administration,” McDonough wrote in an email Friday morning. “He helped manage some of the most complex and sensitive challenges we faced on the Hill and will be missed immensely. Katie is whip smart, and fully understands the challenges and opportunities members of Congress face every day. This is an Administration committed to working with members from both parties to find common sense ways to grow the economy for all Americans. There is nobody better suited to lead our efforts on the Hill than Katie.”
McDonough has personally taken pains to improve relationship with the Hill, and members from both sides say he has been much more responsive to phone calls and emails than his recent predecessors. Fallon will spend the next few weeks meeting with members in both houses and will be tasked with pushing Obama’s climate change plans, overseeing the immigration reform push and, crucially, ensuring a better flow of communication around Affordable Care Act messaging, a major problem during the first weeks of the rollout.
(snip)
Huffer/fluffer can’t even get Rosen’s name right?
Thanks Maggief - Post 78
“The problem, as Tapper pointed out, is that Fallon is currently part of the administration threatening to jail another journalist, James Risen, for doing his job.”
Didn’t realize the case against James Rosen was still ongoing.