May 23, 2013

Holder, the AP, and CIA: Subpoena Subterfuge?

By Jason Kissner
At first blush the administration has already suffered -- and stands to incur -- even more embarrassment as a result of DOJ's unconstitutional (if you're a constitutionalist, anyway) encroachment on free press territory. And yet...what if Holder's hand was forced -- forced by the reality of its defensive position? What if the Administration deemed the AP move a necessary attempt to thwart tremendous -- perhaps even fatal -- embarrassment? Gary B. Pruitt's May 13 letter of protest to Mr. Eric Himpton Holder Jr. indicates that in the late afternoon on Friday, May 10 AP General Counsel Laura Malone received a letter from the Department of Justice. Pruitt states that the DOJ letter was from United States Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. and contained language "advising 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" (emphasis added). The...(Read Full Article)