Fox News, CNN Hired Ex-Trump Aides Bound by NDAs. That’s ‘Journalistic Malpractice,’ Experts Say.

Source: Daily Beast | August 17, 2018 | Andrew Kirell

Trump reportedly locks his ex-staffers into deals preventing them from ever publicly bashing him. Media experts say it’s dangerously ‘unethical‘ to give them TV news punditry gigs.

“If you’re not allowed legally to disparage the president or his family or anything they have to do with, any company they have or asset they have, why can we believe anything you say?”

That was the incisive question MSNBC anchor Katy Tur asked former Trump campaign spokesman Marc Lotter on Wednesday, referring to the blanket non-disclosure agreement all Trump campaign and West Wing staffers are reportedly required to sign.

Leaked versions of that document contain a non-disparagement clause in which the signee agrees not to “demean or disparage publicly” President Trump, his family, their company, or any of the family’s assets.

As Tur suggested, that obligation diminishes the value in having ex-Trump staffers provide commentary for cable-news programs. After all, they are contractually bound to say nothing remotely negative about Trump or his family, even if they wanted to.

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And yet, not only do former Trump staffers—bound by a draconian NDA—routinely appear as pundits across cable and broadcast news networks, but at least five ex-Trump staffers are paid by the networks:

– Jason Miller, a senior communications adviser for the 2016 campaign, is a paid CNN political contributor.

– Marc Short, who served in 2016 as vice-presidential candidate Mike Pence’s senior communications adviser before becoming White House director of legislative affairs, is a paid CNN political commentator.

– Tom Bossert, the president’s first homeland-security adviser, is ABC News’ homeland security analyst.

– Trump’s deputy campaign manager David Bossie is a paid Fox News contributor.

Sebastian Gorka, who briefly worked as a Trump campaign consultant and then served as a White House strategist, is also a paid Fox News contributor.

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