Obama orders Justice Department review after Fox News, AP phone records seized

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Fox News:

President Obama, responding to mounting criticism of his Justice Department's seizure of reporter records, said for the first time Thursday that the administration would be reviewing its guidelines in response to the controversy. Obama said he's "troubled" by the developments and that journalists should not be "at legal risk" for doing their jobs.

Until now, administration officials have responded to the blowback by speaking generally about the importance of balancing national security -- and their ability to prosecute high-profile leaks -- with freedom of the press.

This explanation did not stem the criticism, which only built amid new revelations about the lengths to which prosecutors went to pursue leaks.

Not only did the department secretly obtain two months of phone records from the Associated Press, but it seized phone records from several Fox News lines -- and labeled one correspondent a criminal "co-conspirator" in its successful effort to seize his personal emails.

Obama, in a Washington address, said Attorney General Eric Holder has agreed to review the department's "guidelines governing investigations that involve reporters" and report back by July 12. He said Holder, who "shares" his concerns, will convene a group of media organizations to hear their concerns.

"As Commander-in Chief, I believe we must keep information secret that protects our operations and our people in the field. To do so, we must enforce consequences for those who break the law and breach their commitment to protect classified information," Obama said. "But a free press is also essential for our democracy. That's who we are, and I'm troubled by the possibility that leak investigations may chill the investigative journalism that holds government accountable.

"Journalists should not be at legal risk for doing their jobs. Our focus must be on those who break the law," he said.

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I'm sure Eric Holder will get right on this...

[Draggingtree]

May 23, 2013

DC Cronyism: sliming your way up the chain of command

And the scandals just keep mounting for the Most Transparent Administration Ever. “Stratfor Email: Brennan Behind ‘Witch Hunt’ of Journalists Reporting Leaks,” Breitbart:

An obscure November 2012 Wikileaks email dump points to former White House counterterrorism adviser and now-CIA chief John Brennan as the person behind the “witch hunt” of journalists who reported unflattering Obama administration leaks.

A little over a week after President Barack Obama’s reelection, Wikileaks released an email dump of global intelligence files from the private intelligence company Stratfor. One particular email, dated September 21, 2010 discussed President Obama’s “Leak Investigations.”

The Massachusetts ACLU tweeted out a link that referenced the email and the president’s “war on whistleblowers” on November 15, 2012. The tweet only received two re-tweets after sitting online for seven months. Stratfor’s VP for Intelligence, Fred Burton, declined to comment for this story.

http://proteinwisdom.com/?p=49371