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 ...
Obama promised to eat them last.
Exactly...0bummer and Co. take a lot of heat from the WT.
They seized them under Obama’s new Freedom of Disinformation Act.
This probably won’t get reported anywhere but FOX,and won’t get half the attention the. James Rosen story did.....
What will it take for the media to refute this administration.
I hope this reporter has gone to earth, because she still has a lot of information in her head.
The next logical step for Ubama’s Homeland thugs would be to murder her.
These are the kind of people that Obama is populating federal law enforcement with, and they will still be there under civil service protection after he’s gone.
She should also contact the NRA, as an illegal search involving firearms took place.
I used to not consider that a real possibility but I do now after what has taken place in this administration, the corruption and criminal acts have been numerous.
There’s gotta be a justified RICO charge somewhere in here, something like Watergate.
Audrey is a guy?
She’s very female:)
Like they needed a pretext
It’s not like the MSM will give a crap
Pass on that one....
The police state takes one more step forward.
*shakes head*
I shouldn’t have skipped a few lines.
Since when is a potato gun illegal?
We are living in a POLICE STATE.....man the TORPEDOES!!
Good advice, especially with an administration like this one.
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