L.A. Times Columnist Quits Because of ‘Cowering’ Owner’s ‘Shameful Capitulation’ to Trump
Former Los Angeles Times Senior Legal Columnist Harry Litman blasted his ex-employer after its billionaire owner Patrick Soon-Shiong made a series of editorial decisions favorable to President-elect Donald Trump. That included spiking an endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris before last month’s election. The move prompted some staffers to quit.
Litman, a former federal prosecutor and frequent cable news guest, praised the editorial staff in a Substack post on Thursday and informed his readers his time at the publication is over.
“But I have written my last op-ed for the Times. Yesterday, I resigned my position. I don’t want to continue to work for a paper that is appeasing Trump and facilitating his assault on democratic rule for craven reasons,” he wrote.
Later, he appeared on MSNBC’s Deadline: White House to discuss.
“Harry, you’ve made some news of your own today, resigning from your post at the Los Angeles Times and writing about it,” Nicolle Wallace said. “Tell us your rationale.”
“Well, I put it all out in my Substack, but let me just start here with everything we were saying last time,” he replied. “Papers have such an important role to play now and in this country. Trump has captured the political arena, maybe the Supreme Court, and he’s going after now the FBI, potentially the military, and, really, they’re one of the few institutions to be able to stand up and push back. And it’s in their finest tradition, and Trump has made clear he’ll go after them. And that’s an absolute five-alarm fire.”
Litman added that the Times “has decided to curry favor with Trump.”
“And I just think this is not a time for balance when you have someone who’s not telling the truth on the other side,” he continued. “And it’s a deep responsibility. And instead, I think they cowered and are worried about their personal holdings and just being threatened by Trump. And that’s a really shameful capitulation, I think. So, I just felt I couldn’t be a part of it and had to resign.”
Watch above via MSNBC.
