NBC: Holder OK'd Search Warrant For Fox News Reporter's Private Emails, Official Says

The Prof · May 23, 2013

nbc today:

Attorney General Eric Holder signed off on a controversial search warrant that identified Fox News reporter James Rosen as a “possible co-conspirator” in violations of the Espionage Act and authorized seizure of his private emails, a law enforcement official told NBC News on Thursday.

The disclosure of the attorney general’s role came as President Barack Obama, in a major speech on his counterterrorism policy, said Holder had agreed to review Justice Department guidelines governing investigations that involve journalists.

"I am troubled by the possibility that leak investigations may chill the investigative journalism that holds government accountable," Obama said. "Journalists should not be at legal risk for doing their jobs."

[The affidavit] also said that Google was specifically instructed not to notify “the subscriber” -- Rosen -- that his emails were being seized.

In new documents disclosed Thursday, the Justice Department sought and obtained approval to keep the search warrant, which was approved by a federal magistrate, under seal. It was unsealed in November 2011, but never made a part of the docket of Kim’s case and went unnoticed until this week.

"The Justice Department's decision to treat routine newsgathering efforts as evidence of criminality is extremely troubling and corrodes time-honored understandings between the public and the government about the role of the free press," said Bruce Brown, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

In his speech Thursday, Obama reiterated his determination to pursue leak investigations. "We must enforce consequences for those who break the law and breach their commitment to protect classified information," he said.

But, he said, "Our focus must be on those who break the law," not journalists."

Holder OK'd search warrant for Fox News reporter's private emails, official says - NBC

the district judge, royce lamberth, fyi, apologized yesterday for keeping the search warrant under seal 18 months after his superior ordered it published, until the washington post pried it out into the open just this week

Judge apologizes for lack of transparency in leak probe - The Washington Post

holder testified last friday in house judiciary that he had recused himself from the sweep of the ap's telephones

but he can't say when he recused himself, and he is forced to concede when confronted by chairman bob goolatte that he never put his recusal in writing, despite "best practices"

"as i think about it, that actually might be a better policy to have," he awkwardly acknowledged

Eric Holder gets grilled on the Hill - Josh Gerstein and Jennifer Epstein - POLITICO

the ignorant ag is also unable to say exactly how many other cases of spying on the media are out there

Holder Isn't Sure How Often Reporters' Records Are Seized : The Two-Way : NPR

too many to keep track of, eric?

the outrage is ear splitting

a 52 member media coalition sent holder a 4 page letter objecting to his trashing of the first amendment, the body of which missive lays out point by point the dept's violations of its own manual for collecting phone records:

The nation’s news media were stunned to learn yesterday of the Departmentof Justice’s broad subpoena of telephone records belonging to The Associated Press. In the thirty years since the Department issued guidelines governing its subpoena practice as it relates to phone records from journalists, none of us can remember an instance where such an overreaching dragnet for newsgathering materials was deployed by the Department, particularly without notice to the affected reporters or an opportunity to seek judicial review. The scope of this action calls into question the very integrity of Department of Justice policies toward the press and its ability to balance, on its own, its police powers against the First Amendment rights of the news media and the public’s interest in reporting on all manner of government conduct, including matters touching on national security which lie at the heart of this case.

And finally, the Department should announce whether it has served any other pending news media-related subpoenas that have not yet been disclosed.

Media coalition letter of protest to Attorney General Eric Holder - The Washington Post

ap president pruitt is peeved:

"There can be no possible justification for such an overbroad collection of the telephone communications of The Associated Press and its reporters. These records potentially reveal communications with confidential sources across all of the newsgathering activities undertaken by the AP during a two-month period, provide a road map to AP's newsgathering operations and disclose information about AP's activities and operations that the government has no conceivable right to know," Pruitt said.

Gov't obtains wide AP phone records in probe

and a few days later:

"Their rules require them to come to us first," Pruitt said on CBS's "Face the Nation." But instead of trying to work with the AP, the Justice Department claimed an exception that informing the news organization would have posed a substantial threat to their investigation. The Justice Department sought phone records for 21 AP phone lines that were used by approximately 100 journalists over the course of two months, he said.

"We can't understand why," Pruitt said, since the records came from an outside business and couldn't have been tampered with.

Pruitt said that the message being sent is that if officials talk to the press they are going to be sought out and monitored by the government.

"It will hurt journalism," Pruitt said. "We are already seeing some impact."

Pruitt: DOJ subpoenas unconstitutional - POLITICO.com

ranking member (judiciary) john conyers: “i am deeply troubled by the notion that our government would secretly pursue such a broad array of media phone records over such a long period of time”

zoe lofgren from san jose, 20 year member of pelosi's bay area block: "it seems to me clear that the actions of the department have, in fact, impaired the first amendment, reporters who might have previously believed that a confidential source would speak to them will no longer have that level of confidence because those confidential sources are now going to be chilled in their relationship with the press”

the reliable lib from the south bay continued: “it seems to me the damage done to a free press is substantial and will continue until corrective action is taken, i think this is a very serious matter that concerns all of us, no matter your party affiliation”

chair of senate judiciary patrick leaky leahy: "the burden is always on the government when they go after private information, especially information regarding the press or its confidential sources, on the face of it, i am concerned that the government may not have met that burden, i am very troubled by these allegations and want to hear the government's explanation"

chuck todd: “it’s chilling and they owe us an explanation, this is intimidation and that’s what it feels and looks like, and unless they have a different explanation there is no other conclusion to draw than this is a way to intimidate whistleblowers”

carl bernstein: “it is outrageous, totally inexcusable, this administration has been terrible on this subject from the beginning, the object of it is to intimidate people who talk to reporters, this was an accident waiting to become a nuclear event and now it’s happened, there’s no excuse for it whatsoever, there’s no reason for this investigation, especially on this scale”

robert gibbs: "right now, we’ve sort of been struck by the fact that nobody’s explained why you needed such a broad subpoena, why so many people’s records were subpoenaed, i know it’s difficult in the middle of an investigation but i think, quite frankly, it’s something that’s sort of largely owed to the american people"

Gibbs: Obama Admin Must Explain AP Investigation To The American People | RealClearPolitics

dana milbank: "as flagrant an assault on civil liberties as anything done by george w. bush’s administration, to silence critics in a way richard nixon could only have dreamed of, to treat a reporter as a criminal for doing his job deprives americans of the first amendment freedom on which all other constitutional rights are based, the administration's actions shatter the president's credibility and discourage allies who would otherwise defend the administration, who knows what else this crowd is capable of doing, we're learning just how abusive a justice dept can be"

Dana Milbank: In AP, Rosen investigations, government makes criminals of reporters - The Washington Post

nyt editorial board: "the obama administration has moved beyond protecting govt secrets to threatening fundamental freedoms of the press to gather news, certainly not grounds for a conspiracy charge, treating routine news-gathering efforts as evidence of ciminality is extremely troubling and corrodes time-honored understandings between the public and the govt about the role of a free pass, the rosen case follows other signs the administration has gone overboard, accusing a reporter of being a co-conspirator on top of other zealous and secretive investigations shows a heavy tilt toward secrecy and insufficient concern about a free press"

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/22/o...leak-investigation.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=1&

The Prof · May 23, 2013

Re: NBC: Holder OK'd Search Warrant For Fox News Reporter's Private Emails, Official

in other words, debatepolitics.com...

IT'S THAT BAD

pulitzer prize winner eugene robinson: "the obama administration has no business rummaging thru journalists' phone records, perusing their emails and tracking their movments in an attempt to keep them from gathering news, this heavy-handed business isn’t chilling, it’s just plain cold, it also may be unconstitutional, the unwarranted snooping would be troubling enough if it were an isolated incident but it is part of a pattern that threatens to redefine investigative reporting as criminal behavior, i have to wonder whether the administration’s real aim is to discourage potential leaks of not-so-rosy news in the future, if this had been the view of prior administrations bob woodward would be a lifer in some federal prison, the cell next door might be occupied by dana priest or the nyt's james risen and eric lichtblau, the president needs to understand that behavior commonly known as whistleblowing and journalism must not be construed as espionage"

Eugene Robinson: Obama administration mistakes news for espionage - The Washington Post

the national journal completely concurs:

5 Ways Obama Can Restore the Public's Trust and Rescue His Presidency - NationalJournal.com

al hunt, bloomberg's dc bureau chief and judy woodruff's husband, says fire holder:

How Obama Can Rescue His Presidency From Scandals - Bloomberg

david corn: “if a reporter asks a source who handles classified material for info does doj see that as a crime, the rosen case may be more important than ap”

dem congressman henry cuellar, texas: "casing and chilling the press by doing that type of sweep, to me, as an attorney, i said, 'ew, that's worrisome,' they should have gone to a judge”

dem jared polis from CO: "it needs to be targeted, they can't simply cast a broad net in a fishing expedition as it appears like they did in this case”

charlie: "in terms of the constitutional rights of freedom of speech and reporters i think, in this particular case as long as it doesn't endanger the lives of any people, they ought to make a special effort to be more forthcoming in why they took this very unusual step to acquire telephone numbers”

Tensions rise between press, Obama - The Hill - covering Congress, Politics, Political Campaigns and Capitol Hill | TheHill.com

CHUCK TODD: So they want to criminalize journalism. And that's what it's coming down to. I mean, if you end up essentially criminalizing journalism or when it comes to reporting on the federal government, particularly on national security, and the only place they can, they think they technically can do that is on the issues of national security. What it's going to do is the impact that we’ve heard, we heard the AP counsel say this over the weekend. It is going to make whistleblowers, and people that might leak, regular sources. You know, I’ve had different conversations with people over the last week who are sitting there not quite comfortable having certain conversations on the phone. I mean, it just completely intimidates, and maybe that's the intent. I can't think of any other intent of why they’re going about this in such a broad harassing sort of way.

Chuck Todd: Obama Administration Wants To Criminalize Journalism | RealClearPolitics

JAKE TAPPER: In "The Politics Lead," a FOX News reporter is caught in the middle of what's being sarcastically called a conspiracy to commit journalism. Not only did the Justice Department label James Rosen a conspirator for soliciting information from a State Department contractor for a story, but FOX News is now reporting that the Department of Justice even seizedthe phone records of Rosen's parents and of at least five other phone lines associated with FOX News.

Earlier this week, "The Washington Post" reported that the FBI sought and received a warrant to search Rosen's e-mail back in 2010 to find the source of a leak. Keep in mind, there's no allegation that James Rosen bribed, threatened, coerced anyone to get the information, which is what journalists do. We try to get information, especially information that the government doesn't want us to share with you.

In an opinion piece,The New York Times, which is, of course, very supportive of President Obama, the editorial page accused the Obama administration of going overboard to find and muzzle insiders in the government, saying, quote, "Obama administration officials often talk about the balance between protecting secrets and protecting the constitutional rights of a free press. Accusing a reporter of being a conspirator, on top of other zealots and secretive investigations, shows a heavy tilt toward secrecy and insufficient concern about a free press," unquote.

Now, I'm a journalist. Obviously I have a bias here. But even if you side with this president over those of us in the media who challenge him in his administration, it is important to remember the precedent these actions set going forward, perhaps when it's not your guy in the White House.

Tapper On Obama Scandals: Remember The Precedent Set "When It's Not Your Guy In The White House" | RealClearPolitics

so eric passes the buck

Holder On AP Scandal: "I Was Not The Person Involved" | RealClearPolitics

while carney blames the cia for the talking points and obama targets treasury for the irs imbroglio

NBC: W.H. Blaming Treasury Dept. for IRS Scandal

the buck never stops with this administration, there is no buck, obama already spent it

except, today, your arrogant, ignorant attorney general got caught---holding it

do you think obama should keep him around?

Fisher · May 23, 2013

Re: NBC: Holder OK'd Search Warrant For Fox News Reporter's Private Emails, Official

At least they got the warrants so I guess we are progressing. Strange the press was never outraged when Bush was spying on everybody without even bothering with the warrants. Chickens, welcome home to the roost.

Perotista · May 23, 2013