AP denounces US' seizure of journalists' records

[JollyRoger]

Libs: still blamin' Bush like it's 2009.

In 2009, Cons were still blamin' Clinton.

 

[MobBoss]

In 2009, Cons were still blamin' Clinton.

Not really.

 

[FriendlyFire]

In 2009, 2010 Cons were still blamin' Clinton.

Fixed for you.

Bill Clinton to Blame for Horrible Economy NOT Bush
15 Sep 2010

Since the collapse happened on the watch of President George W. Bush at the end of two full terms in office, many in the Democratic Party were only too eager to blame his administration. Yet while Bush did nothing to remedy the problem, and his response was to simply reward the culprits, the roots of this disaster go back much further, to the free-market propaganda of the Reagan years and, most damagingly, to the bipartisan deregulation of the banking industry undertaken with the full support of "liberal" President Clinton. Yes, Clinton. And if this debacle needs a name, it should most properly be called "the Clinton bubble," as difficult as it may be to accept for those of us who voted for him.

 

[Antilogic]

Is it scandal-of-the-day week?

 

[Chiteng]

The way I see it, it is much simpler than all that.

Lets assume there are two political forces, we can call them Dems and Repugnants.

For reasons I will NEVER understand, so much so that I suspect the election was stolen,
Bush Jr was elected. The man was obviously a bigoted, and lazy idiot. It galled anyone
with the ability to think, that that man was running things. His legacy was and is,
'he made his buddies rich'. And then, he won again.

That made what we call progressives very very vengeful. And justly so. They had to watch as that idiot ran the country high-handedly for EIGHT YEARS.

So, Obama is simply revenge for making them suffer under Bush Jr.

However, Obama is not even half as smart as he thinks he is. Not half as sophisticated
as he thinks he is. He looks good because of the guy who preceded him.
But he is just as arrogant and opinionated, and petulant.

It takes two sides to be polarized. The idea that he will make his opponents suffer
for not recognizing his genius is common among narcissism.

The problem is......THIS Prez is perfectly willing to wreck the bus.
He would rather have NO ONE win, if he cant.
So if he can strike back at his foes, even if it damages the country, to him,
that is simply justice. Justice for the fools that refuse to recognize his genius.
You can find many such personalities in Chicago.
They would rather the house burn down, if they can't run it.

And that is OUR problem now.

 

[Azale]

Time for Eric Holder to resign.

From what I've seen, he wasn't involved in this investigation. He recused himself because he was under investigation as the possible leak.

He should resign for other reasons, but persecuting whistleblowers and extending (and expanding) Bush-era national defense junk is heartily endorsed by Congress. As was this investigation that led to the DoJ overreach into journalists records.

 

[downtown]

From what I've seen, he wasn't involved in this investigation. He recused himself because he was under investigation as the possible leak.

He should resign for other reasons, but persecuting whistleblowers and extending (and expanding) Bush-era national defense junk is heartily endorsed by Congress. As was this investigation that led to the DoJ overreach into journalists records.

I thought he has to personally approve these sorts of reaches into journalist records? If not him, then somebody very close to him in the office, right?

*somebody* ought to be fired. I think you could have probably built a case to can Holder over the Fast and Furious business too. Not one of this administration's better hires, that's for sure.

 

[Kaitzilla]

I thought he has to personally approve these sorts of reaches into journalist records? If not him, then somebody very close to him in the office, right?

*somebody* ought to be fired. I think you could have probably built a case to can Holder over the Fast and Furious business too. Not one of this administration's better hires, that's for sure.

Since I was the first to suggest this idea, I will provide proof

https://twitter.com/ryanjreilly/status/334059393270284288

Media Subpoena Requests
The approval of the Attorney General is required before a government attorney can issue a subpoena to a member of the news media, except when the material sought has been published or broadcast and the member of the news media expressly agrees to provide the material sought. 28 C.F.R. § 50.10(e).

 

[Dreadnought]

Reactionaries. Still blaming everybody but themselves since forever.

Good one!

 

[Chiteng]

From what I've seen, he wasn't involved in this investigation. He recused himself because he was under investigation as the possible leak.

He should resign for other reasons, but persecuting whistleblowers and extending (and expanding) Bush-era national defense junk is heartily endorsed by Congress. As was this investigation that led to the DoJ overreach into journalists records.

He should be indicted for NOT enforcing the law(s)

 

[Takhisis]

Well, we should thank Obama for finally proving beyond dispute that black people are really our equals, they can order their governments to carry out illegal wars, spy on their own citizens, etc. just as well as white presidents. Mission accomplished.

 

[classical_hero]

Fixed for you.

There is plenty of blame to around for what happened. The rot started somewhere in the 70's. Decades of bad policy decisions by both sides.

 

[DinoDoc]

This is silly: Holder: I can’t remember when I recused myself from the AP investigation, and I know I didn’t do it in writing

 

[Cheetah]

Is he trying to give the impression that the authorisation just materialised out of thin air??

Or was did authorisation simply "never given in writing"?

 

[DinoDoc]

Is he trying to give the impression that the authorization just materialized out of thin air??

Or was did authorization simply "never given in writing"?

Question from the link I posted: If there's no written record of recusal, who told DAG Cole that he was running the AP investigation?

 

[DinoDoc]

Did Eric Holder lie in Congressional testimony last week?

That’s the question asked by Katie Pavlich and Jim Hoft after the revelation that Attorney General Eric Holder personally approved the application for a warrant on Fox News’ James Rosen as a potential co-conspirator in espionage. Last week, under relatively friendly questioning from Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) about the Department of Justice seizure of Associated Press phone records, Johnson asked about the potential to prosecute reporters under the Espionage Act of 1917. ”You’ve got a long way to go to try to prosecute the press for publication of material,” Holder responded. Later, though, he returned to the topic unbidden, emphasis mine (at the 5-minute mark):

[YOUTUBE-OLD]AW7GhfOXe5U[/YOUTUBE-OLD]

In regard to potential prosecution of the press for the disclosure of material. This is not something I’ve ever been involved in, heard of, or would think would be wise policy.

As it turns out, Holder not only heard of it, he personally approved it. The warrant in the Rosen case specified that he was considered a potential suspect in the leak of classified material, the reason that the DoJ didn’t bother to follow the existing Watergate-era statute in coordinating the records request with Fox News. And note that Holder’s testimony in this case wasn’t produced by some sophisticated perjury trap sprung by a Republican, but as a freely-offered representation to no particular question during the question period of a Democrat.

There is no other way to view this except as a lie. Even if Holder wasn’t under oath, that would constitute a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. It certainly should produce at least a resignation, and almost assuredly would require the appointment of a special prosecutor, especially since the next person down in the organization, James Cole, is suspected of doing the same thing with reporters.

http://hotair.com/archives/2013/05/24/did-eric-holder-lie-in-congressional-testimony-last-week/

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Always answer: "I cannot recall ... yadi yadi"

 

[downtown]

Yeah, seriously, Eric Holder should not have a job anymore.

 

[DinoDoc]

Yeah, seriously, Eric Holder should not have a job anymore.

Revealed: Holder personally vetted Rosen warrant, DOJ fought for prolonged secret monitoring of accounts

It’s 4 p.m. ET as I’m writing this. If you had that time plus “deeper complicity for Holder in the Rosen investigation” in the pool, congrats.

We already knew that he signed the warrant for Rosen’s e-mails. Now we know for sure that it wasn’t pro forma. President Good Government announced yesterday that he’s ordered the Attorney General to review the DOJ’s guidelines for snooping on reporters. Imagine how dismayed Eric Holder will be when he finds out what Eric Holder’s done.

The Justice Department said on Friday that officials up to Attorney General Eric Holder vetted a decision to search an email account belonging to a Fox News reporter whose report on North Korea prompted a leak investigation.

In a statement emailed to Reuters, the department said the search warrant for the reporter’s email account followed all laws and policies and won the independent approval of a federal magistrate judge.

That’s not all. Per Ryan Lizza, the DOJ appealed and won in 2010 after a district court judge ruled that they couldn’t keep their e-mail snooping a secret from Rosen. Why was the DOJ so worried about Rosen finding out? Because: They wanted to maintain access to his e-mail accounts, indefinitely if necessary, to flush out more evidence of leaking. And that’s why Rosen didn’t find out until a few days ago that he was being spied on.

Machen added that “some investigations are continued for many years because, while the evidence is not yet sufficient to bring charges, it is sufficient to have identified criminal subjects and/or criminal activity serious enough to justify continuation of the investigation.”

Machen insisted the investigation would be compromised if Rosen was informed of the warrant, and also asked the court to order Google not to notify Rosen that the company had handed over Rosen’s e-mails to the government. Rosen, according to recent reports, did not learn that the government seized his e-mail records until it was reported in the Washington Post last week.

The new details indicate that the government wanted the option to search Rosen’s e-mails repeatedly if the F.B.I. found further evidence implicating the reporter in what prosecutors argued was a conspiracy to commit espionage.

“Machen,” by the way, is U.S. Attorney Ronald Machen. If his name sounds familiar, that’s because he’s the guy who was charged with deciding whether to pursue the House’s contempt citation against his boss, Eric Holder, over Fast & Furious. Holder’s deputy, James Cole, wrote a letter to Machen — before he’d even received the citation — to let him know that the Department determined Holder had done nothing wrong and therefore shouldn’t be prosecuted. Machen also happens to be leading the FBI investigation into the leak that involved the DOJ subpoenaing AP reporters’ phone records. The man who authorized those subpoenas was, of course, James Cole, acting as AG after Holder recused himself. Machen’s a loyal soldier, in other words, with a track record of aggressively pursuing access to journalists’ private data to sniff out leaks. If he was asking a judge to give the DOJ prolonged access to Rosen’s accounts, it’s reasonable to assume that it was at Holder’s behest. Especially now that we know Holder personally vetted the warrant.

Tough exit question from Conor Friedersdorf: How much damage to national security did Rosen’s story featuring the big leak about North Korea really do? It’s impossible to know for sure right now, but it might be significant.

http://hotair.com/archives/2013/05/...itor-rosens-accounts-indefinitely-if-need-be/

This story keeps getting more interesting.

 

[DinoDoc]

Always answer: "I cannot recall ... yadi yadi"

He failed to do that.