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Armed agents seize records of reporter, Washington Times prepares legal action
The Washington Times ^ | October 25, 2013 | Guy Taylor

Posted on 10/25/2013 3:53:11 PM PDT by jazusamo

Maryland state police and federal agents used a search warrant in an unrelated criminal investigation to seize the private reporting files of an award-winning former investigative journalist for The Washington Times who had exposed problems in the Homeland Security Department’s Federal Air Marshal Service.

Reporter Audrey Hudson said the investigators, who included an agent for Homeland’s Coast Guard service, took her private notes and government documents that she had obtained under the Freedom of Information Act during a predawn raid of her family home on Aug. 6.

The documents, some which chronicled her sources and her work at the Times about problems inside the Homeland Security Department, were seized under a warrant to search for unregistered firearms and a “potato gun” suspected of belonging to her husband, Paul Flanagan, a Coast Guard employee. Mr. Flanagan has not been charged with any wrongdoing since the raid.

The warrant, obtained by the Times, offered no specific permission to seize reporting notes or files.

The Washington Times said Friday it is preparing legal action to fight what it called an unwarranted intrusion on the First Amendment.

“While we appreciate law enforcement’s right to investigate legitimate concerns, there is no reason for agents to use an unrelated gun case to seize the First Amendment protected materials of a reporter,” Times Editor John Solomon said. “This violates the very premise of a free press, and it raises additional concerns when one of the seizing agencies was a frequent target of the reporter’s work.

“Homeland’s conduct in seizing privileged reporters notes and Freedom of Information Act documents raises serious Fourth Amendment issues, and our lawyers are preparing an appropriate legal response,” he said.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Front Page News; Government; Politics/Elections; US: Maryland
KEYWORDS: 1984; 1stamendment; 201308; 2nd; 2ndamendment; 4thamendment; airmarshalls; audreyhudson; banglist; batf; batfe; coastguard; dhs; doj; falsepretext; firstamendmant; firstamendment; fourthamendment; freedom; freedomofpress; gunrights; guns; hudson; illegalsearch; irs; johnsolomon; liberty; maryland; mps; paulflanagan; pingdanquayle; pingingqualye; potatoes; potatogun; secondamendment; silencer; silencers; tyranny; uscg; washingtontimes
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To: sakic
Armed agents seize records of reporter

..."free press" ping.

101 posted on 10/26/2013 5:14:43 PM PDT by ROCKLOBSTER ("The government" is nothing but a RAT jobs program)
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To: Innovative

Let’s see if I’ve got this right. Her husband resisted arrest 27 years ago, has been collecting guns ever since and the police knew all about it because 5 years ago the neighbors complained about celebratory New Years shots, and though the police knew about this for nearing on 3 decades they only just now decided to go after him, because he bought a potato gun 6 years ago?

Was a law passed that disallows people to own firearms if they’ve ever been arrested, resisted arrest, etc? A law being applied retroactively? Or was there a law on the books 27 years ago that prohibited this guy from owning guns?

Anybody who can’t tell the difference between a potato gun and a file folder full of papers has no business being hired by anybody, much less by law enforcement. The same guy who, in the middle of the raid, asked this woman if she was the one who had done exposes of air marshals and told her that he was an air marshall let her know a month later that he had taken the notes where she named her sources for the whistleblowing. No question in my mind, whatsoever, that he did that to flip the bird at her.

I hope he gets it right back, in his own face. Cheeky jerk.


102 posted on 10/26/2013 8:59:40 PM PDT by butterdezillion (Free online faxing at http://faxzero.com/ Fax all your elected officials. Make DC listen.)
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To: jazusamo
Not so long ago it was under Putin that oppositional journalists were disappearing.

looks like it is our turn now. Someone should find out if these whistleblowers have auto accidents or something.

103 posted on 10/27/2013 3:13:15 AM PDT by MarMema ("If Americans really wanted Obamacare, you wouldn't need a law to make them buy it." Ted Cruz)
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To: RginTN

Why are we just now hearing about this? It happened in early August.


104 posted on 10/27/2013 3:55:32 AM PDT by arasina (Communism is EVIL. So there.)
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To: ROCKLOBSTER

I feel sorry for you and your loneliness.


105 posted on 10/27/2013 7:38:02 AM PDT by sakic
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To: arasina
Why are we just now hearing about this? It happened in early August.

"The home of former Washington Times reporter Audrey Hudson, whose work can now be read at outlets such as Newsmax and the Colorado Observer, was raided by personnel from the Department of Homeland Security and Maryland State Police. Hudson recently revealed that the raid took place in August."

It is note worthy that Audrey is also a Conservative....one of those people that think you ought to keep your own money and that a government too big can and will be oppressive.....

106 posted on 10/27/2013 7:53:19 AM PDT by yoe ( Defund Obamacare now — or risk voter backlash in 2014)
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To: sakic

So, government seizing a reporter’s documents looks like “freedom of the press”?

I don’t feel alone at all. Does the common sense crowd on this thread offend your delicate sensibilities?


107 posted on 10/27/2013 8:50:57 AM PDT by ROCKLOBSTER ("The government" is nothing but a RAT jobs program)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Exactly, they got what they wanted plus the intimidation factor for other journalists. There will be a lengthy investigation and legal battle, it will die on the vine.


108 posted on 10/27/2013 8:55:03 AM PDT by Toespi
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To: okie01
Remember when the NY Times reported on classified material on the Iraq war and nothing was done? But a reporter with a potato gun brings in the agents.

It is a different world under The Dear Leader.


109 posted on 10/27/2013 2:18:53 PM PDT by GrandJediMasterYoda (What do we want? Time travel. When do we want it? It's irrelevant.)
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To: jazusamo

You can have my potatoes when you pry them from my cold dead frying pans.


110 posted on 10/28/2013 11:20:05 AM PDT by Dr.Deth
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To: jazusamo
...warrant to search for unregistered firearms...

What the heck is that? I thought a firearm registry was one of the things that Feinstein was bucking for.
111 posted on 10/28/2013 1:56:21 PM PDT by Sopater (Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? - Matthew 20:15a)
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To: Sopater

It must be some kind of Maryland law.


112 posted on 10/28/2013 1:59:31 PM PDT by jazusamo ([Obama] A Truly Great Phony -- Thomas Sowell http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3058949/posts)
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To: jazusamo

113 posted on 10/28/2013 2:01:28 PM PDT by Sopater (Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? - Matthew 20:15a)
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To: jazusamo

It appears that potato guns are regulated under a new Maryland Fryer Arms Control Act. Citizens are not allowed to possess an a’Salted weapon.

Oh, and Rrrrrifles have rrrridges.


114 posted on 10/28/2013 2:35:19 PM PDT by Dr.Deth
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To: Dr.Deth

Salt Weapons!!

Say it ain’t so

They gotta be banned

for the little arteries


115 posted on 10/28/2013 2:38:26 PM PDT by GeronL
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To: ROCKLOBSTER

If you keep posting things to me when I am not even involved in the discussion I can’t help but wonder if you are OCD, lonely, or something else. It is kind of pathetic, but if it brings joy to an otherwise empty life, I suppose I can’t blame you.

Maybe you just need to have a friend.


116 posted on 10/28/2013 3:40:51 PM PDT by sakic
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To: sakic
I am not even involved in the discussion

Oh, just a friendly ping.

I thought you wanted to be included in any discussion as a proponent of our wonderful freedom of the press in the current age.

So, do you have no opinion on the treatment of this reporter by the government?

Maybe you just need to have a friend.

I live in a state that has only 1.5 million people, by choice. I am surrounded by thousands of folks, and know hundreds of people.

I've had my fill of crowds, gratuitous conversations, pretensious politeness and the ubiquitous ringing phone.

Lonely I'm not, my wife and I are hermits and proud of it.

117 posted on 10/28/2013 4:26:15 PM PDT by ROCKLOBSTER ("The government" is nothing but a RAT jobs program)
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To: ROCKLOBSTER

Withdrawing from life works for you. Congrats.

No need to include me.

For those in the dark, what started this was your claim that there is more freedom of the press in Russia than in America, as ignorant a statement as I have come across.


118 posted on 10/30/2013 4:26:35 AM PDT by sakic
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To: sakic

No unlike you, I live in the Country, not in a bubbling urban cesspool. You’re perfectly suited right where you are.

I might even go back to the heartland (where seldom is heard a discouraging word) with nary a blue county in sight.

Back on topic, we do get more and better information about our “government” from the Russia and other foreign media than we do from your beloved RATagandists.


119 posted on 10/30/2013 5:10:41 PM PDT by ROCKLOBSTER ("The government" is nothing but a RAT jobs program)
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To: ROCKLOBSTER

Your ability to not understand a basic concept is breathtaking.

For a while I thought you were using hyperbole to make a point. I finally understand that you just aren’t all that bright.

Look up freedom of the press and see if you can grasp its meaning. Most kids understand the concept by around 4th grade. It’s sad that an adult in America does not yet understand it and probably never will.


120 posted on 11/03/2013 11:57:07 AM PST by sakic
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