Trump administration launches probe into free speech crackdown in Britain

The Trump administration is doubling down on its commitment to stand up for freedom of speech in Europe with an extraordinary move. According to GB News, Trump “sent a team of U.S. officials to the U.K. to investigate concerns over freedom of speech restrictions, particularly regarding pro-life activists who have been arrested for silent protests outside abortion clinics.”

Vice President JD Vance made international waves in February when he confronted European leaders at the Munich Security Conference on their free speech record, singling out the U.K.’s persecution of pro-life protestors. Vance noted that veteran Adam Smith-Connor had been convicted and sentenced to pay thousands of pounds in legal costs simply for praying silently outside an abortion clinic, and cited Scotland’s draconian buffer zone that could apply to people praying inside their own homes...

The U.S. state department sent a five-person team to the U.K. for several days to interview U.K. government targets and then report back to the White House on their findings. According to GB News:

The diplomats from the U.S. bureau of democracy, human rights and labor travelled to London in March to “affirm the importance of freedom of expression in the U.K. and across Europe.” The delegation was led by Samuel Samson, a senior adviser in the state department. During their visit, the U.S. team met with five British activists who had been arrested for silently praying outside abortion clinics across the country, the Telegraph reports.