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.
NAH...
Holder wouldn’t do something like this.
It must have been low-level functionaries in Just Us who did this on their own.
As an aside, what story could AP have been developing in April and May 2012?
What’s the problem? Are there no relatives of Pruitt working in the Obama admin.? Boy old Gary better get on the stick and correct that right away.
He is that naive...and don’t call him Shirley.
Biometric database of all Americans in the Immigration bull. Rr bill.
The nuts are loose and the wheels are finally coming off the *SHORT* bus. <<=== THERE! Fixed it!
D.C. U.S. Attorney Ron Machen Oversaw Seizure of AP Phone Records
No...I’m sure were low level employees who did it.
And, you notice AP drops this story at 5:20 pm. Know Rush Limbaugh will rip them limb from limb.
Must hear show Tomorrow!
We can hope, but I think what's a lot more likely to motivate the ink-stained wretches is (1) a direct threat to their sources, (2) the knowledge that throne-kissing does not confer immunity, (3) the fact that some other journalist is going to get a career-launching Pulitzer for this.
This was all about access to phone records, even private ones. That's bad enough, but the real question is going to be if this resulted in any actual phone taps. If it did, stand by for heavy rolls. This guy and his little band of thugs make Nixon look like a choirboy.
And Liberals went wild over Bush listening to overseas phone calls where the other end was a known terrorist. What are they going to say now?
-PJ
Maybe he was thinking along these lines: TEAPARTY?
well, this is series, but I doubt the enemy (read media) will see the hugh implications of this slam of media freedom to spread the propaganda they’re fed.
More than three.....
Benghazi
Boston Bombers
IRS
Navy Seals
AP/DOJ
Obama has always been the second coming of Hitler..I wasn’t born when Nixon got impeached..I am going to enjoy watching Obama go down and get EXACTLY what he deserves..what scares me the most is if Obama sees that this might be the end of his Presidency what might he do..this man is capable of ANYTHING, including murder, who he has already committed
Hey, I’ll take one conscience-stricken reporter at a time. Bit by bit is better than nothing. Eventually, the dam will break.
If this is what is being reported I think the press will skin Obama alive despite their love of “The One”.
They are not going to love “The One” who spied on them and their sources through a government agency.
This is moving quickly towards impeachment or worse.
AP has had their liips so tight against Obama’s backside for so long, they really deserve this!
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