Posted on 05/13/2013 5:24:46 PM PDT by Nachum
Edited on 05/13/2013 5:40:13 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
May 13, 2013
Attorney General Eric Holder
Department of Justice Washington, D . C .
Dear General Holder :
I am writing to object in the strongest possible terms to a massive and unprecedented intrusion by the Department of Justice into the newsgathering activities of The Associated Press.
Last Friday afternoon, AP General Counsel Laura Malone received a letter from the office of United States Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. advisin g that, at some unidentified time earlier this year, the Department obtained telephone toll records for more than 20 separate telephone lines assigned to the AP and its journalists. The records that were secretly obtained cover a full two month period in early 2012 and, at least as described in Mr. Machen’s letter, include all such records for, among other phone lines, an AP general phone number in New York City as well as AP bureaus in New York City, Washington, D.C., Hartford, Connecticut, and at the House of Representatives. This action was taken without advance notice to AP or to any of the affected journalists, and even after the fact no notice has been sent to individual journalists whose home phones and cell phone records were seized by the Department.
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.
That the Department underto ok this unprecedented step without providing any notice to the AP, and without taking any steps to narrow the scope of its subpoenas to matters actually relevant to an ongoing investigation, is particularly troubling.
The sheer volume of records obtained, most of which can have no plausible connection to any ongoing investigation, indicates, at a minimum, that this effort did not comply with 28 C.F.R. §50.10 and should therefore never have been undertaken in the first place. The regulations require that, i n all cases and without exception, a subpoena for a reporter’s telephone toll records must be “as narrowly drawn as possible.’’ This plainly did not happen.
We regard this action by the Department of Justice as a serious interference with AP’s constitutional rights to gather and report the news. While we evaluate our options we urgently request that you immediately return to the AP the telephone toll records that the Department subpoenaed and destroy all copies. At a minimum, we request that you take steps to segregate these records and prohibit any reference to them pending further discussion and, if it proves necessary, guidance from appropriate judicial authorities. We also ask for an immediate explanation as to why this extraordinary action w as taken, and a description of the steps the Department will take to mitigate its impact on AP and its reporters.
Given the gravity of this situation, I look forward to your prompt response.
Sincerely,
Gary Pruitt
Sorry about the formatting.
The list, Ping
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LOL...a strongly worded letter....in another era it would be tar and pitchfork time...
Bozo’s administration is turning into scandals getting out of a clown car. Let’s see how far the Brown Shirt Media thinks they can cover for the Clown in Chief.
When attacking your enemies, remember your friends do not take kindly to friendly fire.
We may have to settle for “ink-by-the-barrel and pitchforks.”
They were all for Obama/Holder until they were against them...LOL.
crickets chirping on that immediate response...
So, the AP finally twigged to the fact that we have Stalinists in charge.
Hell hath no fury like a lefty betrayed by a fellow lefty. Enjoy!
You mean laziness? You could have easily gone thru it and inserted paragraph breaks on your own...........just sayin
Here, look at this new super shiny thing.
Is that? ... Why, yes, I believe it is. There's a dog wagging back there!!
You may have seen the WH’s response 1/2 hour ago - We will not comment on an ongoing investigation being conducted by the AG....blah blah blah.
There’s got to be some butts a puckerin’ at 1700 Penn. tonight.
Hi Nachum, thanks for posting this.
Has anyone read/heard if there was a Court that authorized these wiretaps? If not, there are crimes committed by DOJ. Apologies would be insufficient.
If private carriers voluntarily provided data, legal action can be brought against them.
Gwjack
The useful idiots get killed first, right?
Meanwhile in a nice voice over at NPR they are describing how well Thee Affordable Healthcare Act will be administered.
Commie fight!
Hey Zero, does Robespierre ring a bell? Threatening and or attacking your supporters may not bode well for you. Cross the media and who is going to run interference for you?
They are looking for CIA leakers.....who also might be leaking Benghazi tips. JMO
I guess the president of AP missed the Obama speech in Ohio about crazies talking about government tyranny. Maybe he needs a tax audit to jog his memory.
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