Are we witnessing the fall of the Fourth Reich?
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.
I guess the IRS admission wasn’t enough to distract from Benghazi, so now this.
I guess the IRS admission wasn’t enough to distract from Benghazi, so now this.
Wasn’t that a long time ago?
Spooks in the CIA are retaliating for O’barry walking all over them.
IRS, Benghazi, AP. Which is the 4th one? Gosnell?
Sure looks like a movement is beginning to sacrifice Obama to save Hillary. I guess the Clinton faction in DC has their marching orders.
Duplicate Post - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3018908/posts
Gonna be fun to watch the press on this one.... they are in a box.
They could start with Obama's background. How about finally vetting Obama for starters? What do you mean he's off limits? Dude, he just stole your phone records! What will it take?
I knew one day this day would come..this is what happens when the media kisses the ass of Obama since day 1..Obama is a cocky son of a bitch..he always believed he could get away with ANYTHING..including murder..his chickens are coming home to roost
Let’s see the press defend this one!!!!!
The entire Obama Gestapo needs to be run outta Dodge!!
Dear Leader learned their lesson well.
Will there be enough time and congressmen to investigate this bottomless sewer of one scandal after another?
And that high ranking Iraqi saying Obama was messing up too.
Watch for him to declare Benghazi "classified."
Are we witnessing the fall of the Fourth Reich?
Any one of these would take down a Republican president (from rino-minor-league all the way to true Conservative). We’ll see what happens.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.