Obama Department of Justice Takes Ass. Press phone records

[Tyrannical]

NPR (national public radio) even signed the protest letter about this.

[Coito ergo sum]

Holder testified yesterday about this AP scandal.

He used the Sgt. Schultz from Hogan's Heroes defense: I see nothing! I know nothing! LOL -- what a fucking joke.

He did say, however, that there were other such document and phone record takings from other media organizations.... he didn't know how many there were, or what they related to...but there were others.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ ... story.html

“I do not know,” the attorney general told the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday afternoon, “why that was or was not done. I simply don’t have a factual basis to answer that question.”

Why didn’t the DOJ seek the AP’s cooperation, as the law also requires, before issuing subpoenas?

“I don’t know what happened there,” Holder replied. “I was recused from the case.”

Why, asked the committee’s chairman, Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), was the whole matter handled in a manner that appears “contrary to the law and standard procedure”?

“I don’t have a factual basis to answer the questions that you have asked, because I was recused,” the attorney general said.

On and on Holder went: “I don’t know. I don’t know. . . . I would not want to reveal what I know. . . . I don’t know why that didn’t happen. . . . I know nothing, so I’m not in a position really to answer.”

Holder seemed to regard this ignorance as a shield protecting him and the Justice Department from all criticism of the Obama administration’s assault on press freedoms. But his claim that his “recusal” from the case exempted him from all discussion of the matter didn’t fly with Republicans or Democrats on the committee, who justifiably saw his recusal as more of an abdication.

“There doesn’t seem to be any acceptance of responsibility in the Justice Department for things that have gone wrong,” said Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), after Holder placed the AP matter in the lap of his deputy. “We don’t know where the buck stops.”

The best Holder could do was offer an “after-action analysis” of the matter and pledge the administration’s renewed support for a media shield law (the same proposed law the Obama administration undermined three years ago). But that does nothing to reverse the damage the administration has already done with its wholesale snooping into reporters’ phone records and its unprecedented number of leak prosecutions.

“I realize there are exceptions and that you have recused yourself, but it seems to me clear that the actions of the department have, in fact, impaired the First Amendment,” Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) told Holder. “Reporters who might have previously believed that a confidential source would speak to them would no longer have that level of confidence, because those confidential sources are now going to be chilled in their relationship with the press.”

In a sense, the two topics that dogged Holder most on Wednesday — the AP phone records and the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups — were one and the same. In both cases, Americans are being punished and intimidated for exercising their right of free expression — by the taxing authorities, in the conservatives’ case, and by federal prosecutors, in the reporters’ case.

[Coito ergo sum]

Does he know?

[Coito ergo sum]

Time for Holder to go? http://thehill.com/blogs/twitter-room/o ... o-be-fired

[Coito ergo sum]

Conflicting information is emerging over the process the Justice Department used to approve the subpoenas for Associated Press telephone records in connection with a national security leak investigation.

As I noted in a story Wednesday, Justice's Director of Public Affairs is supposed to be consulted on all subpoenas to the media or for media-related phone records. In the past, that consultation has prompted the narrowing of subpoenas in some cases and their rejection in other cases, though the ultimate decision rests with more senior Justice Department officials.

(Also on POLITICO: Obama attempts 'scandal reduction surgery')

The Daily Beast's Daniel Klaidman reported Thursday that the head of DOJ Public Affairs at the time the request for the AP's records came through, Tracy Schmaler, recused herself from the matter because she'd been interviewed by investigators. (FBI agents also interviewed Attorney General Eric Holder, which he said this week was part of his decision to recuse himself.)

"In her absence, the job fell to a less experienced deputy," Klaidman's story initially reported.

Adding to the murk, a later version of Klaidman's story removed that statement and added this editor's note: "A previous version of this story stated that in Tracy Schmaler's absence, her deputy handled the A.P. subpoena issue. It is unclear who if anyone in the Office of Public Affairs reviewed the matter."

A Justice Department official told POLITICO Thursday that none of the current public affairs staff was aware of or asked to offer views on the AP-related subpoenas.

"No one here knew about this until Monday" when an AP reporter contacted the office for comment as the wire service prepared to go public with word of the subpoenas, said the official who asked not to be named. "On Monday, we were told it did come down here, but no action was taken and no recommendation was given."

http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the ... 64202.html

What I hope they really look into are the many other instances where this kind of thing occurred, as referenced by Holder in his testimony on Wednesday.... scary shit, this.

[orpheus]

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[pErvinalia]

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[Coito ergo sum]

Wow - shameful -- http://twitchy.com/2013/05/29/bam-dncs- ... ace-shred/

This just gets more and more shocking -- http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism ... rds-seized

Holder needs to go. This is horrid.

[Coito ergo sum]

AP and New York times "forfeit their right to gripe" says Democratic National Committee Chairman -- http://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisgeidner/ac ... the-record

What a set o' brass balls on this guy...

WTF Democrats?

Jesus -- if there is ever an example for the need to diffuse power, we're seeing in these recent scandals. Time to consider disbanding the IRS and weaken the federal government considerably.

[Coito ergo sum]

Rather than start a new thread, let's just facepalm again on this thread -- http://apnews.myway.com/article/20130604/DA6MPFHG2.html

This associated press article reveals that high level Obama Administration officials are using secret email addresses to avoid scrutiny of their public duties and communications. They have been stalling Freedom of Information Act requests over these email addresses, in one case the Department of Labor demanded $1 million from the Associated Press if the AP wanted their Freedom of Information Act request for email addresses honored.

[Coito ergo sum]

The Administration holds "Off the Record" meetings with the press -- http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/mer ... -the-media - then they authorize the press to say how much they support freedom of the press and free speech.

[Tero]

Jeez you people are wordy.

You could have just said Obama=big gubment.

[Coito ergo sum]

Jeez you people are wordy.

You could have just said Obama=big gubment.

And, your view on the Justice Department obtaining Associated Press phone records is.....?

Your view on the Justice Department issuing a warrant against a reporter, designating him an unindicted co-conspirator, because he was doing his job, is?

Your view on the top Obama Admnistration officials using secret email addresses to avoid scrutiny and FOIA requests is?

This whole affair just means to you "more complaints about big government?" Really?

[Tero]

Yes. We gots terrorists and enemies. Bush forgot to listen to terrorists. We has a mess.

If you are willing to give up our military might around the world, we don't need this. Just a big fence.

[Coito ergo sum]

Yes. We gots terrorists and enemies. Bush forgot to listen to terrorists. We has a mess.

If you are willing to give up our military might around the world, we don't need this. Just a big fence.

Errr.... wut?

We "need" reporters phone records being seized and the heads of the Department of Health and Human Services and the Treasury Departments using secret email addresses to avoid scrutiny of their affairs because of terrorism?

"Bush forgot to listen to terrorists?" What in the world are you talking about?