James Gordon Meek. ‘Say his name,’ Glenn says, because it’s VITAL we do not allow this story to disappear just like James did. In this clip, Glenn details a recent Rolling Stone report about an award-winning reporter, James Gordon Meek, who hasn’t been seen since April after a meet-in with the FBI. Glenn explains why this story may be the biggest one of the year, why it’s fundamental to our First Amendment rights, and why we NEED answers…
Transcript
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: Where is James Gordon Meek? If you're asking yourself no, Glenn, who is James Gordon Meek, that's where we begin to have a problem in America. James Gordon Meek is a prominent and important investigative journalist. He is a journalist that crossed somebody somewhere in the government. His apartment was raided by the FBI back in April. Back in April. And he hasn't been seen.
GLENN: This is a journalist, who's an investigative journalist, who apparently had stumbled the to something that made somebody in one of the agencies upset. They were going in to search his apartment. Although they won't say this. They will say they were on that block at that time, but they won't give any other information. And no one has seen this guy since April. Until a Rolling Stone story broke. Now, I want you to know, first of all, the Rolling Stone does not have the best record of being accurate on things so this is not the story of the week. This is maybe the most important story of at least the year because we're not China. You don't just take a journalist off the street and he disappears and no one says anything. No journalist at ABC is even interested? How has this happened? There's a chance that Rolling Stone has it wrong but if they don't have it wrong, this is the first amendment and I have never in my lifetime seen anything like this in America and it must be answered: Where is James Gordon Meek? The news cycle is just this vortex, it just sucks everything into it and it's gone flying past you. We cannot forget this. Understand if the FBI actually disappeared a journalist, this is a hundred times worse than the Mar-a-Lago raid, than FACE Act. This is disappearing who is investigating corruption in the government. That doesn't happen we know we have a corrupt DOJ, we know we have a DOJ that is persecuting people. They put these people in prison for the FACE Act, we will have our first political prisoners. There's no doubt those will be political prisoners. But this is Putin oar Saudi Arabia now, is that hyperbole? No, it's not. I mean, Trump was bad, but he's just the president and this man perhaps was a journalist. The office of the president of the United States is important. And we should not tarnish it, and we should not target it. But that's politics. And really dirty politics. It's supposed to be a kind of more of a ceremonial office really. It's not supposed to have the power that it does. Treating the president like he's above the mandate of his position, which is supposed to be the servant to the will of the people, is a mistake we've made over and over and over again, and it gets us in trouble every time we do. Now, for first time, we think, we have a deep state that is actively thwarting -- okay, that's really bad. However, journalism is mention amendment this is the closest thing we have that is sacrosanct within anything else we really have. Or Bill of Rights violated everywhere, violated everywhere. They're currently violating it through Facebook and Google, they're violating it because they're a public-private partnerships so I think that the government violating our first amendment right, which is, you know, you can offend my first amendment right, but the government can't. They put things in there that were really important, the first and second amendment. Those are about protecting you and giving you the tools to protect yourself against an out of control government. It's freedom of speech. You have the right to say whatever you want without fear of persecution. You have freedom of religion to practice the religion and government cannot stop you from practicing religion. Both of those have been violated. You have the right to petition your government and ask questions and demand answers. They're not doing that. You have the right in the first amendment to assemble, nut to be a mop, not to burn down cities, but you have the right to assemble. And you have freedom of the press. The press is really important. Not the press we have, it's totally corrupt, but even if they are corrupt, you must hold the first amendment on the press to be sacred. We've got a helluva lot of people that are just in with the government and they're just, the press is the greatest threat to America, quite honestly. Because they've merged with the government. I paint people in the press rightfully so, the way I paint them because they have dirtied the name of journalism and if they don't repair it quickly and I don't think they can anymore, it will die out. Luckily with the internet, if the government doesn't kill this you have new people coming that are doing the job and exposing powers. So no matter what shape it's in, no matter how battle weary, no matter how beaten down and destroyed by the decades and decades of mud slinging and outright lies, the free press still does live in our country. The first amendment it is more important than the American flag, Mount Rushmore, all that. Yoked disappear all those things and I would be sad, it would be a bummer, I would be outspoken about that but hey, you start disappearing journalists. If we can no longer speak freely, our ability to think freely will atrophy and we will crumble into the mist of ages. James Gordon Meek, in the words of our time, say his name. James Gordon Meek and keep saying it. Say it to your neighbors. Explain what you do know and if you don't know the story, read the story. Ask yourself how does an ABC investigative journalist just fall off the map after being swept up by the FBI early a morning when his last tweet was facts. He hasn't tweeted, he hasn't posted, he hasn't done anything since April. Where is he? And why does ABC news not care? Why? Are there no friends? Family? Why is no one even asking these questions? And more importantly, why do the ones that you can get a hold of when you ask about him, they say no comment. They'll say I'm not commenting on this story. Why? Why? Until we know what's happened to him and hopefully, hopefully he's just, you know, he's like I just needed to get out into the woods for six months and I didn't want to tell anybody, and he shows up and he's unshaven and maybe a little crazy because he's been chased by bear. Whatever, that a good ending to the story. But we cannot let this story and him die like a torch in the rain. Maybe he's got gone nuts. Maybe coincidentally on the same day the FBI swept him up. That's what they're trying to allude that he might have gone nuts. It's not the first time journalists have gone nuts but if the FBI is behind his appearance, if unelected officials of the United States government appointed by the administration that is sitting in office right now, if they, if they delivered a blow against one of the most sacred freedoms Americans hold dear to our hearts, it is time for a change. We have to have the proof. This is what journalism is supposed to do. And why is it? Why is it that I'm sticking up for an ABC reporter. There's a handful of us who are standing up and going where's James Meek? Where is he? There's just a handful of us. Why? Oh, my gosh, if they, if Donald Trump said hey, can you just come in the hallway for a second, I just want to ask you a question, they would have said that he was trying to stifle the press, that he was going to destroy the press. You do not have a country, one that you want to live in, without the ability for people to question and yes, make some people in the government uncomfortable. They cannot disappear people or we're in China. We are Saudi Arabia. This is tyranny. Say his name America. Where is James Gordon Meek? Where is James Gordon Meek? Why will no one tell us the answer.
