Trump has embraced a disturbing strategy to silence free speech | David Bralow

The Federal Trade Commission is investigating Media Matters over critical coverage. It's just one example of the administration's approach

The Trump administration is embracing an intimidation strategy to silence critical media coverage. Here's how it works: a federal agency launches a pretextual investigation into a perceived enemy, keeps the investigation open to coerce compliance, and resists any effort to have a court review the lawfulness of the agency's actions.

There's no better example than the Federal Trade Commission's retaliatory investigation of Media Matters for America for its critical coverage of one of the Trump administration's most powerful allies.

David Bralow is counsel to the Intercept