Amal Clooney says Trump 'vilifies the media' and makes journalists 'all over the world vulnerable to abuse'
- Amal Clooney, the British government's envoy on press freedom, was speaking at a conference in London on Wednesday
- She did not refer to Trump by name but said in the 'leader' of the 'country of James Madison' vilifies journalists
- Amal doubled down on her criticism later on Wednesday and again on Thursday
- She said Trump made the rhetoric against journalists worse in recent years
Amal Clooney said President Trump 'vilifies the media' and makes journalists 'all over the world vulnerable to abuse' among other jabs during a multi-day conference in London.
The human rights lawyer was speaking along with British foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt on Wednesday when she made her first remark.
Without mentioning Trump by name, she said: 'The country of James Madison has a leader today who vilifies the media, making honest journalists all over the world more vulnerable to abuse.'
Later, while taking questions, she hinted at the same criticism.
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Amal Clooney is pictured on Thursday at the Global Conference on Press Freedom in London where she made the remarks about Trump
On Thursday, Amal said the president made rhetoric against journalists 'worse'
'What happens in a country like Australia or the UK or the US will be looked at by every other leader in the world and potentially used as an excuse to clamp down on journalists and I think journalists all over the world are less safe if the rhetoric or even policies or laws in states that are supposed to be free are actually a threat in those countries,' she said.
Amal, who is the British government's envoy on press freedom, returned to the conference on Thursday where she doubled down on her rebuke of the president, saying, without mentioning him again, that the leader of the free world made it worse for journalists with his rhetoric, according to reporters in attendance.
On Wednesday, Amal also revealed that she advised disgraced WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to seek a diplomatic post within the Ecuadorian government that would allow him to flee Britain.
Amal, whose husband George is a vocal critic of the president, is the British government's envoy on press freedom.
Amal was giving a speech on the growing difficulties journalists face when she slipped in the barb against Trump.
The Clooney's, particularly George, are outspoken critics of the president and lend their support to typically Demoratic political causes. They are shown in March last year with Nancy Pelosi at the March for Our Lives anti-gun event in Washington DC
On Thursday, Amal also took a swipe at the Malaysian government while its Minister of Communications was sitting feet away from her
'As James Madison, one of America's founding fathers, warned us more than 200 years ago, the right to a free press is the only effectual guardian of every other right.
'Yet today, journalists are under attack like never before. They are dying not only while covering wars but because they are exposing crimes committed in war, exposing abuses of power committed in peace time.
'Recent reports suggest that today, only one in 10 people in the world lives in a country with a free press.
'And today, the country of James Madison, has a leader who vilifies the media, making honest journalists all over the world more vulnerable to abuse,' she said.
Trump was not the only person on the receiving end of Amal's wrath.
She also took a swipe at Malaysia, which is yet to outlaw blasphemy, while the country's Minister of Communications and Multimedia was sat feet away from her.
After criticizing his country and government, Amal charmed the crowd and won laughs, saying: 'Couldn’t resist.'
She also warned Australia's government, which came under fire for not stopping a police raid on journalists' homes earlier this year, to not become 'North Korea'.
'All governments say they believe in a free press – the right is even enshrined in North Korea’s constitution… what matters is enforcement of this right.
On Thursday, Amal listed recent attacks on journalists around the world.
She previously said we lived in 'worrying times' and gave the example of murdered Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi which, she said the world leaders reacted to with a 'collective shrug'.
