Glenn Greenwald Dismisses Criticism Over USA Today Response: Journalists Are Trying to ‘Make Themselves the Victim’

Glenn Greenwald responded Sunday to criticism he received for his response to a USA Today report on defendants charged in the Capitol riots crowdfunding legal fees online.

Greenwald was criticized by journalists and media figures for quote-tweeting USA Today intern Brenna Smith sharing the piece to criticize the reporting. Greenwald said, “Congratulations on using your new journalistic platform to try to pressure tech companies to terminate the ability of impoverished criminal defendants to raise money for their legal defense from online donations. You’re well on your way upward in this industry for sure.”

Fox News’ Howard Kurtz asked Greenwald about people saying he was bullying Smith over the piece, particularly criticism that he was unfairly targeting a young woman.

Greenwald responded:

“It’s so ironic. Because the whole point of feminism, the feminist movement which I’ve always supported and still support, is to say that women are as strong as men, and as capable as men of doing professional jobs. There’s obviously a lot of strong women in journalism. What they’re doing is reversing that, they’re saying women are too fragile, we need to treat them like these little china dolls who cannot be criticized, who cannot be critiqued in any way because if you do, you’re somehow harming them. It’s a really regressive kind of sexist trope they’re using to place themselves off limits from criticism even though they wield a lot of power.”

He told Kurtz the USA Today report is about targeting people who are “entitled to a vigorous defense.”

“If you criticize them, I’m talking about major journalists from the second largest newspaper in the country… they then turn around and make themselves the victim,” Greenwald said. “They say by criticizing us as journalists you’re inciting hatred against us, you’re inciting harassment. They’ve completely reversed the dynamic. They attack marginalized powerless people but then pretend the marginalized, powerless, vulnerable ones are themselves so that it’s illegitimate to criticize.”

You can watch above, via Fox News.