Mike Waltz

Mike Waltz

Role at the time: U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, interviewed on CNN’s State of the Union

Statement summary

Asked on CNN’s State of the Union whether he was comfortable with the ban, Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Trump is “absolutely within his rights” to limit journalists’ access to government facilities when he believes they are not acting in good faith. He cited Zemel v. Rusk for the proposition that the right to publish does not include a right of access to any government facility, and said the president was “absolutely spot on.” Pressed by Bash, he said the prior administration had also limited outlets it deemed right-wing and distinguished “negative reporting” from “garbage gossip journalism” built on anonymous sources.

“the president is absolutely within his rights to limit journalists to government facilities, particularly when, in his opinion, they're not behaving as good faith journalists. And that's just not his opinion. That's the Supreme Court's opinion. There are multiple cases, Zemel v. Rusk off the top of my head, and I'm not a lawyer, that said, look, you can have the ability to speak, you can have the ability to publish as an open and free press, but you don't have an inherent right to any government facility that you want, whether it's Langley or the White House. And so I will leave it to the lawyers, but I think the president's absolutely spot on here.”

Mike Waltz

Role at the time: U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, in a post on X

Statement summary

U.S. Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz posted on X that Mamdani's threat to arrest Netanyahu could not succeed, citing the U.S.'s non-membership in the ICC's Rome Statute, the UN Headquarters Agreement's protections for visiting heads of government, head-of-state immunity, and federal authority over a mayor's wishes, calling the threat "pure political theater."

“Mayor Mamdani: here's why your threat to arrest PM Netanyahu's in NYC during UNGA is not going to happen: The U.S. is not party to the Rome Statute that underlies the ICC, The UN Headquarters Agreement grants diplomatic protections to visiting heads of gov't, head-of-state immunity applies, & federal authority trumps any local mayor's wishes. This is pure political theater.”