Posted on 05/13/2013 1:49:29 PM PDT by CWW
Edited on 05/13/2013 1:56:19 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press in what the news cooperative's top executive called a "massive and unprecedented intrusion" into how news organizations gather the news.
The records obtained by the Justice Department listed incoming and outgoing calls, and the duration of each call, for the work and personal phone numbers of individual reporters, general AP office numbers in New York, Washington and Hartford, Conn., and the main number for AP reporters in the House of Representatives press gallery, according to attorneys for the AP.
In all, the government seized those records for more than 20 separate telephone lines assigned to AP and its journalists in April and May of 2012. The exact number of journalists who used the phone lines during that period is unknown but more than 100 journalists work in the offices whose phone records were targeted on a wide array of stories about government and other matters.
In a letter of protest sent to Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday, AP President and Chief Executive Officer Gary Pruitt said the government sought and obtained information far beyond anything that could be justified by any specific investigation. He demanded the return of the phone records and destruction of all copies.
"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.
The government would not say why it sought the records. U.S. officials have previously said in public testimony that the U.S. attorney in Washington is conducting a criminal investigation into who may have leaked information contained in a May 7, 2012, AP story about a foiled terror plot. The story disclosed details of a CIA operation in Yemen that stopped an al-Qaida plot in the spring of 2012 to detonate a bomb on an airplane bound for the United States.
Philip Klein @philipaklein
Holder says DOJ obtained AP phone records as part of a spontaneous reaction to a video.
I’m stealing your list for Facebook....
...and gee, It’s MONDAY!!!!
Yep! The left feeding on the left.
The big O leaving the door open for Biden. Hey, I can dream can’t I?
Maybe AP should pull Helen Thomas out of retirement and sic her on this administration!!!
Perfect "Office Space" reference.
Thanks kindly
Obama speaking at a college:
“Unfortunately, you’ve grown up hearing voices that incessantly warn of government as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity,” Obama said. “They’ll warn that tyranny is always lurking just around the corner. You should reject these voices.”
Obama's people lying to reporters, to Americans, and to the world, for personal gain, not for national security.
Carney had claimed last year that the only adjustment the White House or State Department made to the language was to change the word "consulate" to "diplomatic facility." But ABC News reported Friday that the talking points were revised 12 times. Initial versions, as has been previously reported, contained references to Al Qaeda that were later deleted. But the latest excerpts show how State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland pressed the CIA to scrub references to the agency's prior security warnings out of concern they could be used against her department.
Obama's people abusing the IRS to attack patriotic Americas:
“The IRS would like to apologize for that,” she added. How did the IRS do this? By singling out dozens of organizations for additional reviews because they included the words “tea party” or “patriot” in their exemption applications, Lerner admitted . . . There is evidence the IRS also targeted pro-Israel groups whose positions were potentially inconsistent with the administration’s.
Journalists at least used to follow Obama in lockstep and couldn't imagine why anyone would worry about tyranny. Now that the AP has seen that even the one whom the government thugs come for last is still a victim, perhaps they will move a little closer to honest reporting. I doubt it, but we can hope. Tyranny is much closer than many people think - only as far away as 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Brnghazi must be really bad if they’re throwing up a distraction like this.
He is also very disconnected from reality. Holding a joint press conference with the UK prime minister after the IRS/Benghazi findings showed a real lack of character. He’s a poseur.
No #ing way?! /s
How many calls to Mistresses, masters, slaves, etc were co opted by the Regime?
Sometimes stupid people are right by accident, evil always picks evil.
Jay Carney will say the President just found out about this today....
Someone over on the ap site posted a pretty response, “The media is like an abused woman with Obama as the abusive husband. They will scream and bitch at him and eventually he will slap them around. After an hour of silence they will make up like nothing happened. It’s a cycle.”
“It sounds to me like this administration of liars is engaged in abuse of power at every possible opportunity.”
Umm I have one word for you...CHICAGO
Well, sometimes you just have to eat your peas.....................
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