RT Reporter Abby Martin Discusses Threats From Rand Paul and Capitol Media Relations
MEDIA ROOTS – Two months ago, Luke Rudkowski of WeAreChange and I confronted Senator Rand Paul at the Capitol building as he was leaving a public press conference. We asked him why he endorsed war mongerer Mitt Romney for President if he stands for so many things that Rand Paul is against.
A week after the video went viral, my workplace received multiple threatening phone calls from a staffer representing the Media Relations Committee at the Capitol. This representative implied that I could be arrested and charged with trespassing and harassment for my actions. The staffer also threatened to strip me of my press credentials. Later it was confirmed to me that Senator Rand Paul had directly filed the complaint.
I met with the Media Committee of bureau chief heads of all the major mainstream outlets in the Capitol building shortly after to explain my side of the story. After a month of silence on their end about what the final charges would be against me, I decided to come out with the story for the sake of providing the public the truth.
I was interviewed about the incident via WeAreChange:
Luke Rudkowski talks with Abby Martin of MediaRoots.org and RT about
U.S. Senator Rand Paul’s attempt to get her arrested and stripped of
her press credentials for asking him tough questions in the Capitol
building. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtO5INu-VY4 A week after our video with Abby Martin came out on YouTube,
the RT office, where Abby works, got an ominous phone call from the
Senate Media Relations Committee. The Committee was acting on behalf
of Rand Paul and threatened both Abby and the entire RT news
organization. The threats included ambiguous “charges” for violating
the rules of the Committee floor, Abby’s possible arrest and the
termination of her and the entire office’s press credentials.After a month of meetings and deliberation, the Senate Media Relations
office backed down and did not make good on any of their threats.
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