Son, It Was Obama We Journalists Had to Fear.  In May 2013, the illusion of an unfettered press disappeared like a magician's bunny.  It was in this month that the Associated Press learned Obama's Justice Department had quietly seized all of the relevant records for twenty AP telephone lines a year earlier.  These included the personal and professional lines of several reporters.  The seizure had to do with AP reporting on a covert CIA operation in Yemen.  Although only five reporters were involved in that story, more than one hundred reporters used the lines and switchboards whose records were seized.  AP President Gary Pruitt wrote Attorney General Eric Holder that the "government has no conceivable right to know" the content of those records.

Newly Released Eric Holder Memo:  Feds Can Use FISA to Spy on Journalists.  The federal government can use the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to spy on journalists.  So said a pair of 2015 Justice Department memos, including one from then-Attorney General Eric Holder.  FISA is controversial in itself.  The act is supposed to be used to justify surveillance on foreign targets.  But as Reason's Scott Shackford has explained, intelligence agencies often use it to secretly spy on American citizens, sometimes without a warrant.  According to the newly released documents, obtaining permission to surveil members of the media is not easy, but it is possible.  In one memo, dated March 19, Holder says FISA applications against journalists must be approved by the attorney general and deputy attorney general prior to being brought before a FISA court.

Obama Admin's Heavy-Handed Approach Causes US Fall in World Press Freedom Index.  It's not a good time for freedom of the press.  The non-profit organization Reporters Without Borders, devoted to supporting journalists worldwide, published its annual index this month.  In six continents, the conditions for free media in 2014 became not just worse, but "dramatically worse," according to the group's "2015 World Press Freedom Index."

President Who Goes After Press Promises that Reporters Will Not Be Imprisoned for 'Doing Their Job'.  While he was out "pushing for press freedoms" in China and Burma, President Obama "pledged" that here in the United States, reporters will not go to jail for "doing their job." [...] Despite Obama's remarks, his administration has a very sketchy track record on the First Amendment.

HuffPo: Obama Policy Toward Press A 'Dictator's Dream'.  Huffington Post labeled the Obama Administration's attacks on press freedom a "Dictator's Dream" when highlighting a wire story from the Associated Press.  The article details remarks made by AP CEO Gary Pruitt to the 69th General Assembly of the Inter American Press Association.  He said the U.S. Justice Department's secret seizure of records of thousands of telephone calls to and from AP reporters in 2012 is one of the most blatant violations of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution the 167-year-old news cooperative has ever encountered.

AP CEO Says Government Sources Won't Talk After Justice Department Probe.  The CEO of the Associated Press told an audience Wednesday that the Department of Justice has succeeded in muzzling government employees from talking to AP reporters in the weeks since the seizure of AP phone records was revealed.

Ray Ozzie on NSA spying.  Ray Ozzie, the creator of Lotus Notes and Microsoft's former software head, joined the chorus of technical leaders pushing back on the government's far-reaching surveillance program. [...] "Imagine if you had an administration targeting journalists or groups of people based on political leanings."  The current administration, of course, is facing allegations that it did just that, with the Department of Justice secretly obtaining Associated Press phone records and investigating a Fox News reporter's personal emails while the IRS is facing allegations it focused audits on politically conservative groups.

Finally the news media wake up — when they see Obama as a threat.
Obama's Loss of Trust and Credibility.  [Scroll down]  The catalyst for the heretofore somnolent media's sudden attention to the administration's misfeasance, if not malfeasance, probably is that its own freedoms are threatened this time.  As Breitbart noted, the mainstream media has not broken a single one of the major scandals of Mr. Obama's second term, nor have they even covered the scandals until recently.  Instead, as Breitbart also noted, the "media's energy was collectively poured into ensuring the truth was never discovered."

The Totalitarianism at the Heart of the Obama Scandals.  [Scroll down]  Then Obama's sycophantic press itself discovered to their dismay that Attorney General Eric Holder's Justice Department secretly collected telephone records for April and May of 2012 from as many as twenty of the Associated Press wire service's reporters and editors, in relation to an apparent leak to the AP about an al Qaeda plot in Yemen.  For the first time, Obama's fanboys among the media found themselves on the wrong end of his political bullying, and they didn't like how it felt.

Hot Times for Holder.  Holder's Justice Department is so clearly awash in scandals that Justice doesn't even bother to mount a defense.  Justice did subpoena and examine Associated Press telephone records allegedly in pursuit of a leaker.  It did execute a search warrant against Fox News reporter James Rosen (and his parents) gathering emails in an alleged investigation of another leaker.  Both of those actions are an infringement on the First Amendment.

Fascism In America.  Ours has become a system of virtually limitless central governmental power.  Whatever one thinks of the IRS and Justice Department scandals — targeting conservatives and evangelical Christian and orthodox Jewish organizations, spying on AP reporters, and labeling a Fox News journalist a felon — their common theme is that the federal government can do anything it wishes.

Is Obama waging psychological warfare on Americans?  [T]he president, with the help of his administration, is attempting to conduct psychological warfare on Americans who value autonomy and free will and free markets and small government, by convincing them that they are wrong-minded, prejudiced and pathological and should deeply question their beliefs — including some ensconced in the Constitution.  The wiretapping of journalists would be, then, just another black ops technique in an ongoing war against our freedoms.

Journalist Lemmings Dive Off Cliff While AG Holder Spies, Blusters and Prevaricates.  Of all of the accidentally hilarious aspects of the implosion of Obama's War Against the Bill of Rights, none is more informative than his broadside against journalism and Freedom of the Press.  What does it say about those who take their very sustenance from the 1st Amendment Free Speech clause that many want to extinguish other people's constitutional liberties at every possible opportunity?

It's the Power, Stupid!  Neither the Benghazi or IRS scandals are getting much traction in the MSM.  What has riled them up is Obama's heavy-handed use of government power to spy on his "buddies" in the MSM.

Carney curbs press appearances amid scandals.  White House Press Secretary Jay Carney has only given six press conferences in the last twenty days, down sharply from his usual rate.  Carney's partial retreat from the podium comes as the White House is facing increased pressure from the media, following the May 10 revelation of the IRS targeting scandal, and the May 13th revelation of the Justice Department's surveillance of the Associated Press.

Thousands and Thousands of Associated Press Phone Calls Monitored by DOJ.  The Associated Press scandal just keeps getting worse, and we haven't even started yet.  AP CEO Gary Pruitt informed staffers Wednesday [5/29/2013] that the Department of Justice monitored, not one, not twenty, but "thousands and thousands" of phone calls made by reporters and editors.

House Republicans express "great concern" about possible Holder perjury.  Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday [5/29/2013] expressing "great concern" about the possibility that Holder lied under oath during his testimony earlier this month on the Justice Department's seizing of journalists' records, CBS News has learned.

House committee opens perjury probe of Holder.  The House Judiciary Committee opened an investigation Wednesday into whether Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. lied under oath in testimony about the Justice Department's surveillance of journalists, while the White House declared again that President Obama "absolutely" has confidence in Mr. Holder.

A Bad Relationship: How the Press Came To Love Obama More Than Itself.  [I]magine if American journalists woke up and couldn't remember who was president.  It would be interesting to ask them a few questions:  What would you think of a president under whom the IRS targeted his harshest political opponents, during his reelection campaign?  What would you think of a president whose obsession with leaks and secrecy was so great that he used the Justice Department to obtain phone records of reporters, in violation of Justice's established procedure?

Holder's Regrets and Repairs.  It was Friday, May 17, and officials at the Department of Justice had gotten word that The Washington Post was working on an explosive story:  a reporter had obtained an affidavit for a search warrant to seize a Fox News journalist's personal emails.  Controversy was already swirling around the DOJ over the recent revelation that federal prosecutors had seized the phone records of reporters and editors from the Associated Press in a separate leak probe.

[Eric] Holder either lied to Congress, lied to the judge, or doesn't read what he signs.
Fake flowers and the pretend White House press corps.  Here is what Attorney General Eric Holder testified to when, while under oath, he was asked about the Department of Justice's investigations of journalists and national security leaks:  "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 a wise policy."

Big Government's Abuses of Power.  It was also before the 2012 election that some reporters at the Associated Press had their private and work phone records monitored by the government, supposedly because of fear about nationalsecurity leaks.  The Justice Department gave the AP no chance, as it usually would, first to question its own journalists.  The AP had run a story in May 2012 about the success of a double agent working in Yemen before the administration itself could brag about it.

Stratfor Email: Brennan Behind 'Witch Hunt' of Journalists Reporting Leaks.  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.

Leaks turn to deluge for reeling White House.  The wheels came off the Obama administration yesterday [5/20/2013].  We learned of a startling assault on freedom of the press by the Department of Justice, following the revelation last week of the unprecedented information-gathering foray by that department against The Associated Press.

A guide for journalists (and everyone else) to avoid government snoops.  Revelations that the Department of Justice has been secretly spying on Associated Press reporters has given rise to accusations of intimidation tactics and apparent attempts to stifle whistle-blowers and a free press.  It should also ring alarm bells for anyone concerned about their own privacy and freedom.

A very bad sign for Obama.  Anne E. Marimow of the Washington Post alerts fellow MSMers and the public that the DoJ's AP scandal might be the tip of the iceberg, and that in spying on the press, the Justice Department "did more than obtain telephone records of a working journalist."

AP CEO calls government seizure of phone records unconstitutional, says chill already felt.  The Associated Press' president and chief executive says the government's secret seizure of two months of reporters' phone records has already had a chilling effect on newsgathering, a week after the subpoenas were revealed publicly.

Disturbing abuses of power.  [Scroll down]  On top of the mistakes made by a U.S. official leaking the nation's secrets, the administration compounded things by launching a dragnet for the records of calls received and made from 20 phone lines (including office, home and cell numbers) of the AP journalists in five area codes and three states.

The Biggest Obama Scandals Are Proven and Ignored.  The IRS scandal and Department of Justice leak-investigation excesses are worrisome, but the biggest scandals definitely go all the way to the top, and are still largely ignored even by commentators who have acknowledged that they're happening.

Rep. Gohmert on AP Scandal: 'When There Is a Tyrannical Despot the Media Will Be One of the Early Victims'.  Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) told the large group of reporters gathered for a press conference on Thursday [5/16/2013] that the Department of Justice seizure of phone records from the Associated Press is what happens when a "tyrannical despot" is running the government.

Jonathan Malis and the DOJ Leak Investigation.  One of the lead federal prosecutors behind the Justice Department's sweeping seizure of the Associated Press's phone records is deputy chief of the criminal division Jonathan Malis — a hard-charging 15-year veteran of the U.S. Attorney's Office who is known among colleagues for a single-minded, even zealous, pursuit of his criminal targets.  And there's perhaps no better illustration of his aggressive style than the fact that he once had a caustic, highly personal exchange with Eric Holder, who at the time was a defense lawyer in private practice but is now the attorney general — that is, Malis's boss.

Your Phone Records May Have Been Seized, Too — But You'll Never Know.  Members of the press and defenders of civil liberties are rightfully outraged over the Justice Department's seizure of phone records from Associated Press reporters.  But for those familiar with the strange new world of digital surveillance, the secret acquisition of phone logs and emails is only an unusually public example of something that is disturbingly widespread, highly secret[Scroll down]  and completely legal.

Report: White House Didn't Want Story AP Was Monitored Over Published Until Obama Could Brag About It.  The monitoring [of the AP] was prompted by a national security leak.  Speaking about the monitoring earlier this week, Attorney General Eric Holder made it a point to stress how "serious" of a leak this was.  "It's in the top two or three most serious leaks I've ever seen," Holder said.  But now, the Washington Post is reporting that the administration planned to brag about the very case that prompted the DOJ to secretly monitor the AP after reporters wrote about the case.

Obama's crew plays dumb and dumber.  Has President Nixon been replaced by Sergeant Schultz?  The "Smartest President Ever" has disappeared.  The Barack Brain Trust long-touted by liberals is gone — replaced by hacks whose rallying cry is straight from Stalag 13 — "I know nothing.  Nothing!"  The top law enforcement agency in the land spied on the top news-gathering organization, secretly seizing phone records from their home and cell phones.  They did so without the legally required notice to the Associated Press.  And what did Attorney General Eric Holder say when asked why his Department of Justice would do such a thing?

This Is No Ordinary Scandal.  We are in the midst of the worst Washington scandal since Watergate.  The reputation of the Obama White House has, among conservatives, gone from sketchy to sinister, and, among liberals, from unsatisfying to dangerous.  No one likes what they're seeing.  The Justice Department assault on the Associated Press and the ugly politicization of the Internal Revenue Service have left the administration's credibility deeply, probably irretrievably damaged.

Holder Caught Lying — Again.  Is there no accountability and punishment?  Eric admits that there is nothing in writing on recusal from the AP case — the only person told was the deputy attorney general.

Why the underwear-bomber leak infuriated the Obama administration.  First Amendment radicals — I count myself among them — resist any and all such intrusions:  You can't very well have a free press if every unpublished act of journalism can be co-opted by cops, prosecutors and defense attorneys.

You Know What Really Risks National Security? Leak Investigations.  After the IRS lied about targeting of conservatives and the White House minimized the State Department's role in disputed Benghazi talking points, the justification for snooping on the AP raises new questions about the administration's credibility.  One of those questions is whether the CIA and White House are more concerned about plugging leaks or about managing spin.

AP Phone Records Furor Breaks 335 Days of Silence on Obama Leak Scandal.  The media furor that began Monday night over the Justice Department obtaining two months of phone records from the Associated Press marks the first time in 335 days that any of the Big Three evening newscasts have even mentioned the existence of two criminal investigations into whether White House or other national security officials leaked sensitive secrets, perhaps to politically benefit Barack Obama's re-election campaign.

Government's heavy hand felt in IRS, AP scandals.  If there is any thread that unites these scandals, it is government heavy-handedness.  Seizing the phone records of, say, three editors and reporters would constitute a leak investigation.  Seizing the phone records of perhaps 100 is a fishing expedition and a form of intimidation.  "They're sending a clear message to our sources," says National Journal's Ron Fournier.  "'Don't embarrass the administration or we're coming after you.'"

Obama's Scandals Stem from His Lawless Presidency.  Last Friday, after the Associated Press learned about the Justice Department's sweeping seizure of its phone records, AP CEO Gary Pruitt said "there can be no possible justification" for the action.  No doubt that's true.  But there also seems to be no possible justification for the many other scandals now swamping the Obama administration — from Benghazi, to the IRS scandal to the White House's attempt to shake down health companies for ObamaCare money.  Except that they all stem from a common root — President Obama's callous disregard for the rule of law.

52 Media Orgs Sign Letter of Complaint to Eric Holder.  The journalist group Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press has penned a letter of complaint to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder after revelations that the Department of Justice obtained the phone records of some 100 reporters from the Associated Press.  The letter informs Holder that the group was "stunned" to learn of the DOJ's actions against the Associated Press and notes that none of them could "remember an instance where such an overreaching dragnet for news gathering materials was deployed by the Department."

Former Attorneys General say Justice Department's AP operation highly unusual.  The Justice Department is obligated to investigate leaks that could endanger national security, but the secret seizure of Associated Press telephone records — called a "massive and unprecedented intrusion" by the news organization — is unusual, according to two former attorneys general.

Did the White House Try to Get a Conservative Columnist Canned?  According to Dr. Milton Wolf, the answer is "yes."  And he should know, because the columnist was him.  Milton Wolf is a physician practicing in Kansas City, and he's also President Barack Obama's second cousin.  During the health care debates of 2010, Dr. Wolf began speaking out against the ObamaCare proposal.  Because he is an articulate, knowledgeable, passionate conservative, he began getting national attention, appearing on outlets including PJTV and Fox News.

Obamagate: The Focus Is Barack Obama.  In Part One of this series, published on Monday [5/13/2013], I used the word "Watergate" seven times, openly comparing the scandalous Obama administration to the scandalous Nixon administration.  I didn't know the half of it.  Just hours after Part One ran, we all learned the disturbing news of the rogue Justice Department wiretaps on the Associated Press.  Now, even the liberals in the MSM are in an uproar, and the chief target is Attorney General Eric Holder.

Sgt. Schultz at the White House.  Over the course of two months last year, federal agents secretly went through the records of who has been calling whom at the news cooperative, whether on business phones or personal cellphones.  Casting such a wide net surely exposed the confidential sources used for many important political stories.  Justice officials insist they're only interested in finding out who leaked details of a sensitive U.S. intelligence operation in Yemen last year.

Justice Dept. Secretly Makes 'Massive and Unprecedented' Grab of AP Phone Records.  The AP reported that the Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone records of reporters and editors dated April and May 2012, including incoming and outgoing calls, and the duration of each call, for the work and personal phone numbers of individual reporters, general AP office numbers in New York, Washington and Hartford, Conn., and the main number for AP reporters in the House of Representatives press gallery.

Inside the AP: Fear, determination.  Reporters across The Associated Press are outraged over the Justice Department's sweeping seizure of staff phone records — and they say such an intrusion could chill their relationships with confidential sources.  In conversations with POLITICO on Tuesday, several AP staffers in Washington, D.C., described feelings of anger and frustration with the DOJ and with the Obama administration in general.

White House tries to insulate President Obama from growing controversies.  White House aides on Tuesday tried to distance President Obama from the growing controversies over the IRS' targeting of conservative groups and the Justice Department's monitoring of journalists' phones by pleading total ignorance of events already starting to overshadow virtually every other issue on the president's agenda.  But even Democrats fear that the Obama administration's strategy of laying low and keeping quiet may only intensify scrutiny of the president and make it harder for him to escape blame for the actions of those working below him.

Priebus demands Holder resign over AP probe.  U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder must resign after his agency collected two months of telephone records from reporters at the Associated Press, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said Tuesday [5/14/2013].  "Freedom of the press is an essential right in a free society.  The First Amendment doesn't request the federal government to respect it; it demands it," Priebus wrote in a statement Tuesday.

Obama Hailed 'World Press Freedom Day' As His DOJ Was Seizing AP Phone Records.  President Barack Obama issued a statement heralding World Press Freedom Day in May 2012, at the same time his Department of Justice was secretly obtaining phone records from Associated Press reporters and editors.

Mukasey: Justice Department's AP search 'reprehensible'.  President George W. Bush's attorney general said Tuesday [5/14/2013] that the Obama administration has engaged in "reprehensible conduct" with its unprecedented collection of Associated Press phone logs.  Michael Mukasey, who led the Justice Department under Mr. Bush in the final years of his presidency, said it appears the administration wanted to muzzle news accounts contradicting their "narrative" that al Qaeda was on the run.

Spying on The Associated Press.  The Obama administration, which has a chilling zeal for investigating leaks and prosecuting leakers, has failed to offer a credible justification for secretly combing through the phone records of reporters and editors at The Associated Press in what looks like a fishing expedition for sources and an effort to frighten off whistle-blowers.

This tells us something about the kind of country we live in:  Our president is applauded by a dictator in North Korea.
Kim Jong-un Defends Right to Obtain Journalists' Phone Records.  As controversy swirled around the Department of Justice's move to obtain journalists' phone records, the White House picked up a vote of support today from an unexpected source, Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un of North Korea.  "I honestly don't see what the fuss is all about," Mr. Kim said in an official statement today.  "Of course it's the government's right to know what people are doing at all times — and journalists would be right at the top of the list."

A.P. Scandal Raises Spectre of Big Brother.  If the three-strikes rule were in effect, President Obama would be heading for the dugout, bat in hand.  First the alleged Benghazi cover-up, then the kerfuffle about the I.R.S. targeting conservative groups, and now the revelation that earlier this year the Justice Department secretly seized two months of phone records involving editors and reporters at the Associated Press.

Justice Department secretly obtained AP phone records.  The records obtained by the Justice Department listed incoming and outgoing calls, and the duration of each call, for the work and personal phone numbers of individual reporters, general AP office numbers in New York, Washington and Hartford, Conn., and the main number for AP reporters in the House of Representatives press gallery, according to attorneys for the AP.

Saving Journalism from the Journalists.  It has been eleven years since investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson first revealed that Barack Obama's government was illegally spying on her.  Although she has pursued the matter doggedly in court, no high-ranking Obama administration officials have ever been held accountable.  The incident remains remarkable not only because it laid bare another instance in which Obama's administration engaged in unlawful, unconstitutional, and unethical conduct (remember when Attorney General Eric Holder got caught arming international drug cartels in Operation Fast and Furious for reasons that only he could justify?), but also because the silence from the American press corps was deafening. [...] Judged from their tepid response, it would appear that most corporate news reporters tacitly approved of Obama's government conducting espionage operations against the press — at least so long as the "right kind" of reporters were the ones being targeted.

House Passes Bill Limiting Ability of Gov't to Spy on Journalists or Compel Disclosure of Sources.  While good investigative journalists protect their sources and any information that could lead to the discovery of a source's identity, there's no federal law protecting journalists who refuse to reveal their sources and no law preventing courts from ordering a journalist to reveal their sources.  Some journalists have even had their communications with sources and potential interviewees secretly monitored by government agencies, and there's no accountability for that.  Obviously, without some type of protections, the press cannot do its job of informing the public and holding the powerful to account.  While 48 states and the District of Columbia have some kind of laws protecting a journalist's privilege, right now there's no national standard shielding the press from court orders or subpoenas, or even from government surveillance.  A bill sponsored by freshman Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-CA) would change that.

The federal government's Catch-22 strategy to cover up its spying on Sharyl Attkisson.  We've been covering the incredible story of Sharyl Attkisson, the award-winning journalist, who discovered that her computer was being not just spied-upon but remotely taken over by the federal government.  This was ten years ago, as she was reporting on the Fast & Furious Scandal for CBS News.  She recorded video of her computer screen being remotely controlled, among other evidence.  The feds had no interest in pursuing their own wrongdoing, so Sharyl was forced to launch a civil suit, which has been in process for years now. [...] It is truly a landmark, and has the potential to unmask covert and illegal deep state muzzling of a top tier journalist exposing its crimes.  Sharyl is a hero of the first order and needs our support.

Sharyl Attkisson Says FBI Intended to Plant Child Porn on Husband's Computer.  [Video clip]

Sharyl Attkisson needs your help to nail the federal government for spying on her computer.  Courageous journalist Sharyl Attkisson needs our help.  Her landmark lawsuit against the federal government for spying on her computer entered a new, vitally important, and expensive phase: discovery, in which she can demand and the court can enforce access to documents and other evidence held in the files of the federal government.

False reporting on government computer intrusion case.  So many errors; so little time.  This time the false reporting comes in an article by Timothy Geigner, who calls himself a "technology consultant" for a blog called "TechDirt," run by Mike Masnick.  From start to finish, the article is an embarrassing work of propaganda, replete with obvious errors.  But it's more than just silly; it's damaging, as well.  It's likely there are many people who would read this blog and not know that its information is unreliable and untrue.  Geiger never contacted me before publishing his deceptive and misleading article about my lawsuit against federal agents over the government's computer intrusions — and he got just about everything wrong.

Decision in Attkisson government computer intrusion case.  The judge has dismissed the case against two of the defendants:  Rod Rosenstein and Shawn Henry.  The court agreed on a variety of fronts with the Department of Justice attorneys defending the pair, who have fought mightily for years, defending the guilty agents rather than holding them accountable:  Too much time has passed since the crimes.  The venue is wrong.  The defendants enjoy immunity.  And, in short, the court is telling us we must prove who, precisely, did which acts where — before we are entitled to discovery that would show us who, precisely, did which act where.  As one federal judge who previously agreed with our side said:  It's "Kafkaesque" and circular reasoning that makes accountability impossible.

Sharyl Attkisson statement on Government Computer Intrusion court decision.  The following is released through my attorney, Tab Turner on my behalf:  "We are not surprised by the Court's ruling in light of the Fourth Circuit's earlier opinion, but we are disappointed.  It would have been nice if the government had told the truth before the case was decided in Virginia and the Fourth Circuit, but at least we now know that our own government was directly responsible for conducting illegal surveillance of a journalist and that Mr. Rosenstein was involved, and that Rosenstein is hiding behind alleged legal 'immunity' and legal estoppel arguments to avoid responsibility.  Although as despicable as this conduct is and was, the goal was to find the truth.  As everyone knows, I attempted to avoid litigation, but the government lied to me, lied to Congress, and concealed the truth of what transpired.  The truth is all we as a family ever wanted.  I hope and pray this never happens to another family."

Attkisson v. Rosenstein for government computer intrusions.  The following is an excerpt from the brief being filed today [8/3/2020] in Maryland state court in Attkisson v. Rosenstein and others for the government computer intrusions.  Plaintiff Sharyl Attkisson, an award-winning journalist — along with her husband and child — have tried for years to pursue their significant and credible claims of illegal government surveillance, but the U.S. Government has stonewalled them at every turn.  Yet, despite the Government's repeated efforts to obfuscate and delay, the Attkissons detailed in their Complaint:
  •   Expert forensic computer analysis of the Attkissons' computers, revealing that an unauthorized entity or entities gained remote access to the Attkissons' computers for a prolonged period, and that one of the pathways by which the intrusions occurred were IP addresses controlled by the U.S. Government.
  •   Confirmation, via testimony, that the U.S. Government controlled the IP addresses identified in the Attkissions' computers.
  •   The degree to which senior figures in the Department of Justice were concerned about, and took steps to block, Sharyl Attkisson's reporting, as well as her use of confidential governmental sources;
  •   Many documented instances of abnormal, otherwise unexplained behavior of the Attkissons' computer systems and devices.

Attkisson v.  Holder:  The Government Spied on Me and Now is Hiding the Guilty Parties.  At least once a day, I find myself taking a breath and silently marveling over the outrageous fact that the Department of Justice continues to fight my computer intrusion case in court.  They are spending your tax money to protect the guilty parties rather than hold them accountable.  This is the opposite of what they and our justice system are supposed to do.  They have not changed their obstruction and obfuscation over the seven years spanning this fight — no matter the facts.  They don't have to.  They have the upper hand.  Realistically, there's not much of a damn thing a citizen like me can do about it.  My attorneys and I have expansive, independent forensic proof of the intrusions.  We have a government deposition admitting the government controlled the internet protocol (IP) addresses involved.  We now even have one of the agents involved admitting what he did and naming names.

The Department of Justice Coverup of its Spying on Me Continues.  There has been a lot of water under the bridge since 2013 when CBS News first publicly announced the forensic evidence proving I was victimized by a long-term, remote effort to illegally spy on me and my CBS work through my computers.  [Video clip]  A half dozen independent forensics exams later, with uninvited government IP addresses definitively identified as pathways into my computers, with forensic testimony from a former NSA specialist, with a sworn statement of confirmation from a former FBI Unit chief, and with a former federal agent confessing to being part of the government's illegal spy operation against me and many other U.S. citizens, it is reasonable to ask:  Is the Department of Justice (DOJ) alarmed by the shocking injustices and crimes?  Is DOJ interested in holding accountable the federal agents who are responsible?  Is DOJ concerned with making sure the activity has stopped and does not happen to others?  Apparently not.

Sharyl Attkisson Speaks Out.  There are many books, TV shows, and movies about once-revered FBI agents portaying them as heroes.  But after revelations concerning Donald Trump, Richard Jewell (accused of the Atlanta Olympic bombing), and well-respected journalist Sharyl Attkisson, people might be reconsidering.  Maybe FBI should stand for Fear, Beware, and Intimidate, while DoJ, the parent company, should stand for Department to Obstruct Justice.  Granted, many do their jobs well, but the leaders at the top are definitely suspect to having an agenda.

Sharyl Attkisson Refiles Spying Suit, Exposes Big Deep State Players.  National news media figure and multiple award-winning, straight-shooting investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson has refiled a lawsuit against the federal government for illegally and unconstitutionally hacking her computers and trespassing at her home.  It's a whopper of a lawsuit, naming high-profile Deep State officials including Rod Rosenstein of Trump Spygate fame, the high-ranking Justice Department official who told colleagues he'd wear a wire to surreptitiously record Donald Trump at the White House when the Deep State coup was in its earlier stages.  Attkisson's first lawsuit was dismissed without prejudice for failing to expressly name the government spies and conspirators who hacked her computers and remotely planted classified materials, obviously to set her up.  The Department of Justice, where Rosenstein worked, had repeatedly obstructed Attkisson's attempts to get information through litigation discovery.  The court dismissed nevertheless, and even gave immunity to former Obama Attorney General Eric Holder, whom Attkisson did name in her first lawsuit.

Whistleblower Provides Attkisson New Details to Name Rod Rosenstein and Shawn Henry (Crowdstrike) as Defendants in Lawsuit.  A very interesting development in the ongoing effort of former CBS investigative journalist, Sharyl Attkisson, to resolve the issue of who spied on her, planted spyware and infiltrated her computer systems for illegal surveillance.  According to a recent court filing, a person who was engaged in the "wrongful activity" has come forward to provide Ms. Attkisson with details about the operation.  As a result of those whistle-blower revelations Attkisson is able to name specific individuals who were running the operation.

Attkisson v.  DOJ and FBI for the Government Computer Intrusions:  The Definitive Summary.  During the time of the government computer intrusions, Sharyl Attkisson was an investigative journalist at CBS News.  Starting in approximately 2011, officials at the White House and various federal agencies began frequently contacting her and CBS management via telephone and email in attempts to controversialize or stop her reporting on a number of topics.  Government officials sometimes attempted to bully Attkisson, demanded to know the identities of her confidential government sources, and emailed one another about the need to stop or control her.  During the same time period, the federal Department of Justice (DOJ) vastly expanded its offensive cyber capabilities in the name of national security, including the extraordinary decision to actively target journalists and news organizations with electronic surveillance as part of leak investigations.  The FBI was the primary DOJ agency tasked with carrying out these national security investigations, using a combination of legal and illegal means.

New Lawsuit Claims Rod Rosenstein Led Task Force that Spied on Sharyl Attkisson's Computers.  In a federal lawsuit filed this week, Former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosentein has been implicated in yet another improper government spy operation.  In the new complaint, Attkisson v. Rosenstein et. al., investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson names former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosentein and four other Justice Department officials as the government agents who of illegally survielled her electronic devices.  According to the complaint — filed in United States District Court in Baltimore, Maryland — Rosenstein led "a multi-agency task force in Baltimore that conducted surveillance of the Attkissons' computer systems" and "used USPS IP addresses on other occasions to conduct operations."

Trump Caught America's Biggest Lawbreaker.  [Scroll down]  Under Obama, the role of the Departments of Justice and State, as well as the intelligence community, expanded as part of America's biggest lawbreaker.  Those who attempted to "catch" the lawbreaking met with reprisal.  Obama's unprecedented use of the Espionage Act against reporters, for example, was the equivalent of using goon squad enforcers to intimidate the fainter-hearted white hats.  No faint-hearted reporter and best-selling author Sharyl Attkisson was targeted for revealing Obama administration scandals.  She explains her courageous lawsuit against government's hacking her home and business computers was initially dismissed for dumbfounding reasons. [...] Serious criminality by government, such as hacking Ms. Attkisson's computers, now almost seems like kids' play or just rehearsal when viewed next to America's biggest lawbreaker's boldest and most consequential lawbreaking:  The sedition and attempted coup against a sitting American President.

Sharyl Attkisson:  How Obama "Surveilled" aka Spied On Me.  Sharyl Attkisson has a shocking story to tell about how she was spied on by our government.  She discovered shocking things that had been done in order to surveil her activities on because she did government watchdog reporting.  She goes into detail below about the measures that were taken to spy on her just like James Rosen of Fox News was spied on:  [Video clip]

Reporter: Obama Spied on Me, and I'm Not the Only One.  Former CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson testified in front of lawmakers on Tuesday about evidence she'd collected proving that the Obama administration illegally spied on her by planting remote access software on her home computer.  Attkisson has long maintained that Obama officials were not only keeping tabs on her, but was actively pressuring her bosses at the network to "kill" stories she was pursuing that would not have been favorable to the president.  Unfortunately, she told the House Oversight and Reform Committee, despite her evidence of wrongdoing, the Department of Justice has taken no steps to investigate the scandal. [...] All of this happened in 2012, as Attkisson was closing in on Benghazi reporting that would have been severely damaging to the administration and might have hurt the president's chances in November.

Sharyl Attkisson Accuses Obama DOJ of Secretly Swapping Out Her Computer Hard Drive.  Former CBS correspondent Sharyl Attkisson accused the Department of Justice (DOJ) of monkeying around with her hard drive while her computer was in their possession.  She tweeted on Thursday, "What would you think if I told you the hard drive of one of my personal computers was secretly switched out w/another while in custody of the Justice Dept.  Inspector General — before they gave it back to me?" [...] You may recall that Attkisson's computer was hacked back in 2012 while she was working for CBS and reporting on the Benghazi scandal.  CBS News spokeswoman Sonya McNair said at the time that a cybersecurity firm hired by CBS News "has determined through forensic analysis" that "Attkisson's computer was accessed by an unauthorized, external, unknown party on multiple occasions in late 2012."

Attkisson v.  DOJ: The Computer Intrusion Lawsuit against the Federal Govt.  I'm frequently asked about the status of my lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice over the secret, unlawful intrusions into my computers, exposed in 2013.  As my federal case moves slowly through court system, there is a new development:  ongoing forensic work of my computer laptop system has revealed a second government Internet Protocol (IP) address used in the illegal cyber-attacks on my computer laptop system.  The IP addresses don't belong there.  In a new affidavit filed in federal court last week, cyber-security expert David Scantling states, "[T]he presence of these USPS addresses on [Attkisson's] computer is not a mistake; it is not a random event; and it is not technically possible for these IP addresses to simply appear on her computer systems without activity by someone using them as part of the cyber-attack."

Attkisson v.  Eric Holder, Department of Justice, et al.  In February 2012, "sophisticated surveillance spyware" was installed on Ms. Attkisson's work-issued laptop computer.  A later forensic computer analysis revealed that Ms. Attkisson's laptop and the family's desktop computer had been the "targets of unauthorized surveillance efforts."  That same forensic analysis revealed that Ms. Attkisson's mobile phone was also targeted for surveillance when it was connected to the family's desktop computer.  The infiltration of that computer and the extraction of information from it was "executed via an IP address owned, controlled, and operated by the United States Postal service."  Additionally, based on the sophisticated nature of the software used to carry out the infiltration and software fingerprints indicating the use of the federal government's proprietary software, the infiltration and surveillance appeared to be perpetrated by persons in the federal government.

Sharyl Attkisson makes the case.  If anybody knows how the Obama Administration spied on political opponents, it's Sharyl Attkisson.  The former CBS News investigative reporter and current host of "Full Measure" found herself on the receiving end of Obama's wrath.  Not surprising when you consider that she was the only investigative journalist actually looking into not only the Benghazi scandal, but Fast & Furious and the IRS targeting of conservatives.  Fox & Friends had Attkisson on yesterday [3/16/2017] to talk about Trump's claims that Obama was spying on him and his team.

How did the FBI manage to "lose" Sharyl Attkisson's file?  Sharyl Attkisson, the former CBS reporter and independent journalist, has a long history of getting under the government's skin. [...] This week, Attkisson tells the story of how she finally sought to obtain her own FBI file and the mysterious answers she received. [...] [E]ven if you don't want the details revealed, can the FBI simply claim they don't have a file when one exists?  It seems as if they would instead come back with an answer of saying that the information is sensitive and can't be released.  Or perhaps just turn over a page with everything redacted except the date and the title?  Something doesn't sound right about that.

Colonized by the Muslim Brotherhood.  [Scroll down]  So why doesn't the Press report just the facts?  What is the reason for such an incredible failure by the press to inform the American people of the dire state of their government under Barack Obama?  There are several.  Many advisors to Obama are married into the media, or have worked in media themselves prior to joining the administration.  Both Ben Rhodes and Susan Rice have familial connections with powerful executives in (what was once known as) the free press.  Four times more journalists identify as liberal compared to conservative.  Evidently, with the case of Brian Williams coming to light, some in the media don't care about the truth and would rather make up bald-faced lies.  Yet the biases above don't fully explain the conspicuous silence of the mainstream press on the Muslim Brotherhood.  For it is no longer bias or loyalty that sway the press, but fear.  The Obama administration has proved that it will stonewall, punish, illegally wiretap, and in general make life difficult for inquisitive members of the press.  Case in point, Sharyl Attkisson, who refused go along with the official lies regarding Benghazi.

Attkisson Testifies: If You Cross The Obama Administration, You Will Be Attacked and Punished.  During her testimony, Attkisson detailed government intimidation she has endured under the Obama administration, particularly through the Department of Justice, for pursuing investigative stories unfavorable to the administration.  Attkisson has been an investigative reporter for decades and has pursued stories of government corruption, waste, fraud and abuse in both political parties.

DOJ Inspector General Report Finds No Evidence for Attkisson's Hacking Claims.  Former CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson has claimed an unknown government agency hacked her computer.  She claimed documents were planted on her computer, her Skype account was breached and being used as a listening tool, and she brought her computer to someone who told her the hack originated from a government agency.  She also presented video purportedly showing the government hacking into her computer.  Well, the inspector general's office in the Department of Justice looked into Attkisson's claims of government hacking and... they didn't find any evidence of such.

Sharyl Attkisson on DOJ Lawsuit: 'No Outrage About the Intrusion' from Media.  Investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson announced on Monday [1/5/2015] she is planning to sue the Department of Justice and the U.S. Postal service for allegedly hacking into her computers.  On Tuesday, Breitbart News asked her to explain the different parts of the lawsuit and where she sees this going over the next several months.  She explained why she and her attorney are going forward with what will surely be a long and difficult process.

Reporter sues government for spying from USPS network.  Sharyl Attkisson, the former CBS investigative reporter who published her claims of government intimidation, electronic surveillance, and cyber-attacks in a book last fall, has begun the process of taking the government to court over the hacking of her personal and work computers, as well as her home network.  In the process, Attkisson's attorneys have begun to reveal the details of forensic investigations by computer security experts.  In legal filings against the government, the attorneys disclosed which government agency's network was the source of at least some of the hacks:  the US Postal Service.

Journalist Computer Intrusion Lawsuit Filed Against U.S. Government.  Investigative Journalist Sharyl Attkisson has filed administrative claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act against the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Postal Service, and certain unnamed employees and/or agents of the federal government.  Attkisson has also filed a lawsuit in the District of Columbia alleging certain violations of her constitutional rights based on information implicating the federal government in illegal electronic monitoring and surveillance of her home and business computers and phones from 2011 to 2013.

Sharyl Attkisson sues administration over computer hacking.  Former CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson has sued the Justice Department over the hacking of her computers, officially accusing the Obama administration of illegal surveillance while she was reporting on administration scandals.  In a series of legal filings that seek $35 million in damages, Attkisson alleges that three separate computer forensic exams showed that hackers used sophisticated methods to surreptitiously monitor her work between 2011 and 2013.

Sharyl Attkisson sues Justice Dept..  Former CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson has sued the U.S. Department of Justice for illegal surveillance, alleging that the Obama administration hacked her computers while she was reporting on the Benghazi attacks, Fast and Furious and Obamacare.  "There is an administrative claim for illegal wiretapping and a lawsuit alleging constitutional violations," Attkisson told POLITICO on Monday, confirming a Fox News report about the lawsuit.  She is seeking $35 million in damages.  Attkisson has cited three computer forensic exams as evidence that hackers stole data and passwords from her home and work computers.  She also told Fox that she has "pretty good evidence" that the hacks were "connected" to the Justice Department.

'Challenging the federal government': Sharyl Attkisson sues the DOJ.  Investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson, whose coverage of the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya, has earned her both high praise and harsh criticism, has launched a lawsuit against the Department of Justice, demanding access to FBI documents that involve her personally.  The now-senior independent contributor to the Daily Signal, a conservative online news outlet based at the Heritage Foundation, alleges that during her final months as a correspondent for CBS News, her personal and work computers were hacked as she continued to produce often unfavorable reports on the Obama administration.

Sharyl Attkisson & Judicial Watch Unite To Sue Dept. of Justice.  Investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson has united with Judicial Watch to launch "a Freedom of Information (FOIA) lawsuit against the Department of Justice (DOJ) seeking "any and all records" relating to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) background checks and other records on the award-winning correspondent."

Judicial Watch Joins Sharyl Attkisson in Lawsuit against Justice Department to Obtain FBI Records about Attkisson.  Earlier FOIA records obtained by Judicial Watch show award-winning journalist was targeted by Obama White House and Justice Department over critical reporting.

Who is On the Obama Enemies List?  We are pleased to announce that Judicial Watch has joined forces with investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed jointly against the Department of Justice (DOJ).  We want "any and all records" relating to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) background checks on the award-winning correspondent.  The request includes correspondence between Attkisson and FBI agents.

Confirmed: Eric Holder's Rogue DOJ Targeted CBS News Reporter Sharyl Attkisson.  Fast and Furious, along with Benghazi, is one of the two "phony" administration scandals that produced body bags, and former CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson is responsible for much of the truth-telling about both.  That fact is enough to put her high atop the administration's enemies list.  Attkisson, a casualty of liberal media bias, resigned from CBS in March after a series of clashes between her and her bosses over her exposes of administration wrongdoing and its subsequent cover-ups.  An email thread obtained by government watchdog Judicial Watch show just how upset Eric Holder's Justice Department and the White House were over Attkisson's reporting and how hard they tried to undermine her. [...] For the White House and DOJ, control of the press was a must.  They couldn't have a "mainstream" reporter spilling the beans.

No Shame for Obama.  [Scroll down]  Obama's tentacles expand to silence and suppress alleged enemies.  The most recent revelation is an e-mail that "proves that the DOJ targeted reporter Sharyl Attkisson" as "out of control" because her reporting was "really bad for the AG [Attorney General]."  The corrupt Department of Justice targets anyone deemed dangerous and who will diminish its power — e.g., James Rosen, Fox News reporter, was accused of being a co-conspirator in a spying case when, in fact, he was merely reporting the news.  Conservative groups continue to be singled out by the IRS, and no one is punished by this administration.  And, of course, everything is done in secrecy, because that is how corrupt government breeds and metastasizes.

Bombshell: Attorney General targeted Attkisson.  Judicial Watch has slowly been prying Fast and Furious documents out of the desperate grip of the Obama administration.  The Department of Justice has now produced around 40,000 pages of documents — a tiny amount — which Judicial Watch has posted on its web site.  So far, the most explosive document to emerge is an email thread between Tracy Schmaler, who headed Eric Holder's Office of Public Affairs, and White House Deputy Press Sectary Eric Schultz.  The emails are dated October 4, 2011.

Bombshell: Email Proves that White House, DOJ Targeted Reporter Sharyl Attkisson.  Judicial Watch reports that the Obama administration has turned over about 42,000 pages of documents related to the Fast and Furious scandal.  The administration was forced to turn the documents over to Judicial Watch in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.  Judicial Watch is posting them on its web site.  The administration turned them over on November 18, 2014.  One of the documents provides smoking gun proof that the Obama White House and the Eric Holder Justice Department colluded to get CBS News to block reporter Sharyl Attkisson.  Attkisson was one of the few mainstream media reporters who paid any attention to the deadly gun-running scandal.

How pervasive is government harassment of the press?  [Scroll down]  This is one of the most chilling things that I have read in a very long time.  To do this kind of thing, you have to be very twisted.  And to order that this kind of thing be done, you have to be even more twisted.  This is the kind of thing that the Nazis did. [...] Officials in the federal government cannot harass and intimidate media personalities just because they do not like what they are saying .  By doing so, they are breaking the law.

Attkisson: We Should Be Questioning Authority Instead Of Doubting Those Who Question Authority.  [HOWARD] KURTZ:  It seems to suggest that you think the media, much of the media, have a liberal bias or are susceptible to criticisms from the left more so than the right?  [SHARYL] ATTKISSON:  And I think we've seen that in the way they pick up second- and third-hand information and reports that I'm verifying them as if they can't possibly be wrong and yet keep unwarranted skepticism on any word that comes out of the mouths of those who question authority.  I think that's backwards.

Chris Hayes' Attkisson Interview Sums Up MSNBC's Issues in One Question.  [Scroll down]  Know this: [Sharyl] Attkisson could pretty much work anywhere she wants, and doesn't need to fabricate any stories in order to enhance her LinkedIn profile.  And when her new book hits shelves this Tuesday [11/11/2014], it will be on the best-seller list.  Guaranteed.  Why?  She has the credibility that comes from dogged reporting regardless of which party controls the White House.  All the aforementioned awards during the Bush and Obama administration prove that.

The Hackers, The Congressman, and Sharyl Attkisson's Book Party.  "I'm pretty sure I'm the least socially connected journalist in D.C.," said Sharyl Attkisson.  At the moment, she was being wry. Attkisson, the Emmy-winning investigative reporter who left CBS News this year, spent Thursday evening [11/6/2014] at a Georgetown mansion, celebrating the release of her reporting memoir, "Stonewalled."

Former CBS News Reporter Sharyl Attkisson Claims Existence of Obama Enemies' List.  Sharyl Attkisson is an investigative journalist who became the story when she quit CBS News after two decades amid allegations that the network refused to run some of her stories that were critical of President Barack Obama.

Sharyl Attkisson releases video of alleged computer intrusion.  Former CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson has released to Politico a video clip that shows an alleged hacker attack against her Apple computer.  The video's release comes just days before the Nov. 4 publication date of her book "Stonewalled," which inventories her efforts to hold the Obama administration accountable, along with providing a running narrative about intrusions into her home and work computers.  The video itself shows a computer with a moving cursor erasing words from a document.

Attkisson releases video of computer hacking, 2012 Benghazi files deletion.  Former CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson released video Friday [10/31/2014] of her Benghazi files being systematically deleted from her computer in 2012, alleging that government agencies were responsible for the crime.  Politico released cellphone video that Ms. Attkisson took in the moments after she lost control of the machine.

EX-CBS reporter: Government-related entity bugged my computer.  A former CBS News reporter who quit the network over claims it kills stories that put President Obama in a bad light says she was spied on by a "government-related entity" that planted classified documents on her computer.  In her new memoir, Sharyl Attkisson says a source who arranged to have her laptop checked for spyware in 2013 was "shocked" and "flabbergasted" at what the analysis revealed.

Where is the media on the Attkisson story?  Former CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson dug into some of the Obama regime's scandals.  She looked into both the "Fast and Furious" scandal as well as the Benghazi scandal.  The more she looked, the more outraged the regime became.  Now, in her new book, "Stonewalled," she drops a bombshell. Her computer was hacked by the government.  Sophisticated spyware was put in her computer that allowed the government to track every keystroke from her computer and it allowed someone to remotely activate her Skype program.  In short, they knew everything she was doing.  She was wiretapped by the regime.

CBS' Attkisson Reports She's Been Shut Out by White House.  Sharyl Attkisson of CBS News has been one of the few reporters attempting to dig deep into controversial stories.  But after her work on Fast and Furious and Benghazi, she is now reporting that she's been shut out of the information loop by the White House.

Flashback: CBS Barred Attkisson From Receiving Journalism Award.  The tensions began when Attkisson was the only reporter at the network willing to investigate the Fast and Furious scandal:  the Justice Department's involvement with gun running across the Mexican border that ended with the murder of a US Border Agent.

Attkisson's Problem and the Public's.  CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson has a bigger problem than the possibility that someone or some government agency has been tampering with her computer.  Last week the investigative journalist acknowledged publicly that her work computers had been compromised.  But as Dylan Byers makes clear in his piece about Attkisson in Politico published on Friday, her bigger problem is the fact that a lot of people at CBS think there's something wrong with a journalist who is willing to report aggressively about the Obama administration's shortcomings and scandals.

Attkisson to Beck: I was warned that I was 'probably being monitored'.  In an interview today [4/30/2014] with Glenn Beck, former CBS News investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson again addressed the issue of her compromised computers, saying she was "outraged" that someone would attempt to hack them.  She also noted that she'd been warned that she was "probably being monitored" and that this particular tip came before the revelations from National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden and the news that the Associated Press's phone records had been seized.

CBS News confirms Sharyl Attkisson's computer hacked.  CBS News spokeswoman Sonya McNair said that a cybersecurity firm hired by CBS News "has determined through forensic analysis" that "Attkisson's computer was accessed by an unauthorized, external, unknown party on multiple occasions in late 2012."  "Evidence suggests this party performed all access remotely using Attkisson's accounts.  While no malicious code was found, forensic analysis revealed an intruder had executed commands that appeared to involve search and exfiltration of data. [..."]

CBS Reporter Sharyl Attkisson: I Think I Know Who Hacked My Computer.  In the interview, Attkisson begins by explaining that both her personal computer, as well as her CBS work computer would mysteriously turn on in the middle of the night, even though she'd shut them down.  Attkisson then told O'Reilly that whoever hacked her computers curiously didn't try to go after her personal finances or steal her identity.

Attkisson: 'Hacker Highly Skilled, Used Very Sophisticated Methods'.  CBS News investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson appeared on "CBS This Morning" [6/17/2013] to discuss the hacking of her computer, which CBS News says they have verified through what Attkisson describes as an "independent cyber-security firm."  She added that whomever [sic] did the hack was "highly skilled and used very sophisticated methods."

Sharyl Attkisson Shares Update On Computer Hacking Investigation.  [Scroll down]  Attkisson described some of the bizarre things that were happening with her computer.  "There were just signs of unusual happenings for many months, odd behavior like the computers just turning themselves on at night and then turning themselves back off again.  I was basically able to verify and obtain information from my sources on the suspicious activity and I reported it to CBS News in January because of course it included CBS equipment and systems."

Obama is Abrading the Social Fabric.  [Scroll down]  Sharyl Attkisson of CBS, who courageously reported on the Fast and Furious transfer of weapons by the ATF to Mexican drug gangs and the government's failure in Benghazi, stated a while ago that beginning in 2011 she noticed her computer was behaving oddly. [...] There is no proof as yet that the White House has in effect been breaking and entering into Ms. Attkisson's computer files, but who else had such a great interest in the scandals she was uncovering?

"It all started with a third-rate break-in into a reporter's computer...".  Yes, the White House is indeed the obvious culprit, and while other culprits can be imagined, they seem a bit far-fetched.

June 18, 1972 Revisited?  On June 18, 1972, the Washington Post reported that the night before, there had been a break-in at the offices of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate Hotel.  Although the break-in story made the Post's front page, no one could then foresee the consequences that would spin out over the ensuing months.  This morning, the Post's Erik Wemple reported that forensic analysis has confirmed multiple invasions of at least one computer used by CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson in late 2012.  Attkisson has been one of only a handful of reporters who have dared to write critically about the Obama administration.

Trust.  We don't yet know who hacked Sharyl Attkisson's computers at the very time she happened to be digging into the Benghazi scandal.  Perhaps it was a rival reporter, a rogue partisan, or just some guy in a basement with too much time on his hands.  But we're at a remarkable point in our history when a majority of Americans probably — and with good reason — consider their own government the most likely suspect.  There have always been those who've first blamed The Government for any manner of nefarious deeds.  But their numbers were usually small and invariably in the minority.  Now, however, the government no longer enjoys the benefit of the doubt.

The Editor says...
I doubt if it was a "rival reporter" who got into Sharyl Attkisson's computer.  Most TV reporters I know can barely get into their own computers, let alone someone else's.

Sharyl Attkisson, computer hacking, and the Masters of the Universe.  Somebody hacked into the computer of one of CBS's best-known investigative journalists. [...] One with a history of going after the administration.  The report suggest that this wasn't a script kiddie drive-by and it wasn't a phishing expedition; whoever did this was after Attkisson's personal hard drive data, and attempted to cover up the intrusion.  So, whodunit?  Let's not pretend:  as an examination of the Memeorandum thread shows, a lot of people are gingerly clearing their throats and murmuring about how time of the intrusion at least superficially matches up with Attkisson's reporting of the administration's botched response to Benghazi.

CBS News confirms multiple breaches of Sharyl Attkisson's computer.  The Attkisson-computer story surfaced when Attkisson appeared on a Philadelphia radio program amid the news about the Justice Department's snooping on reporters. WPHT 1210 host Chris Stigall asked Attkisson whether she'd been the victim of any such tactics.

CBS' Attkisson Reports She's Been Shut Out by White House.  Sharyl Attkisson of CBS News has been one of the few reporters attempting to dig deep into controversial stories.  But after her work on Fast and Furious and Benghazi, she is now reporting that she's been shut out of the information loop by the White House.

Flashback: CBS Barred Attkisson From Receiving Journalism Award.  The tensions began when Attkisson was the only reporter at the network willing to investigate the Fast and Furious scandal:  the Justice Department's involvement with gun running across the Mexican border that ended with the murder of a US Border Agent.

Attkisson's Problem and the Public's.  CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson has a bigger problem than the possibility that someone or some government agency has been tampering with her computer.  Last week the investigative journalist acknowledged publicly that her work computers had been compromised.  But as Dylan Byers makes clear in his piece about Attkisson in Politico published on Friday, her bigger problem is the fact that a lot of people at CBS think there's something wrong with a journalist who is willing to report aggressively about the Obama administration's shortcomings and scandals.

The Sharyl Attkisson Approach.  Sharyl Attkisson has problems.  The Obama administration won't answer the CBS News correspondent's questions because her investigations — into Benghazi, Fast and Furious, Solyndra — often reflect negatively on it.  Some colleagues at CBS News, where she has worked for two decades and earned multiple Emmy awards, dismiss her work because they perceive a political agenda.  And now, she says, someone may have hacked into her computers.

CBS Is Investigating How A Reporter's Computer Was Compromised.  CBS told Business Insider that it is "investigating" a claim by investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson alleging an ongoing intrusion into her computers.  Attkisson made the claim Tuesday morning [5/21/2013] during an interview with host Chris Stigall on WPHT Philadelphia.  "There's been an issue in my home and an issue with my computers," Attkisson said on the radio show.  "It's gone on for quite a long time."

Sharyl Attkisson's computers compromised.  Sharyl Attkisson, the Emmy-award winning CBS News investigative reporter, says that her personal and work computers have been compromised and are under investigation.  "I can confirm that an intrusion of my computers has been under some investigation on my end for some months but I'm not prepared to make an allegation against a specific entity today as I've been patient and methodical about this matter," Attkisson told POLITICO on Tuesday [5/21/2013].  "I need to check with my attorney and CBS to get their recommendations on info we make public."

Internal Memo Proves That CBS' Sharyl Attkisson Did Not Get Benghazi Emails Story Wrong.  [Scroll down]  One reporter who has been accused of repeating falsified talking points given to her by Republicans is CBS News investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson.  A memo sent to CBS News talent and producers, and obtained by Mediaite, shows that is simply untrue, and that Attkisson made clear in her original draft report that what she was privy only to "paraphrased" portions of "handwritten notes" that members of certain Congressional Committees were able to access.

CBS' Attkisson: 'There Hasn't Been an Appetite for the Stories I've Offered on Benghazi'.  CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson has been one of the more aggressive reporters covering the aftermath of the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi last September.  But the veteran CBS News reporter feels the story's she's pitched lately are getting picked up on the TV network.

Anonymous CBS Sources Smear Sharyl Attkisson.  Libya is a legitimate story about a White House coverup.  But for purely partisan reasons, the media won't touch it for fear it will damage Obama and/or Hillary Clinton.  In other words, Attkisson is showing a rare willingness to stray from the media's Narrative Plantation.  But when you do this, there is always a price to pay, which likely explains the Politico piece.

Brother of Top Obama Official About to Oust Benghazi Reporter Sharyl Attkisson?  [Sharyl] Attkisson's dogged pursuit of the truth has not only pitted her against a media desperate to protect Obama, but also, apparently, against her bosses at CBS News, one of whom is the brother of a top Obama official.  Moreover, CBS News president David Rhoades is not only the brother of President Obama's national security advisor, Ben Rhoades, but ABC News reports that Ben Rhoades was very much involved in the editing of the now-infamous CIA talking points.

CBS News President and WH Official Tied to Benghazi Scandal Are Brothers.  One of the mainstream media journalists whose pursuit of the truth has been truly tenacious and nonpartisan is CBS News' Sharyl Attkisson.  Her tough reporting has made life difficult for everyone from Hillary Clinton to the Bush administration and Congressional Republicans.  She's also been relentless on the Obama administration's Fast & Furious gun-running scandal — and, of course, Benghazi.  As we mentioned this week, Attkisson's tough investigative journalism is starting to bother unnamed CBS News executives.

Top Obama official's brother is president of CBS News, may drop reporter over Benghazi coverage.  The brother of a top Obama administration official is also the president of CBS News, and the network may be days away from dropping one of its top investigative reporters for covering the administration's scandals too aggressively.  CBS News executives have reportedly expressed frustration with their own reporter, Sharyl Attkisson, who has steadily covered the Obama administration's handling of the Benghazi terrorist attack in Libya since late last year.

Will CBS News disgrace itself over Sharyl Attkisson's honest reporting?  Sharyl Attkisson has distinguished herself with skeptical inquiry into Obama administration stories on Fast and Furious and Benghazigate, and perhaps as a result is reportedly in trouble with her bosses at CBS News.

Sharyl Attkisson of CBS News, a persistent voice of media skepticism on Benghazi.  From the start, the Obama administration's account of what happened in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11 last year didn't quite square for Sharyl Attkisson.  So the veteran CBS News reporter dug in, and kept digging.  The result:  Attkisson has been a persistent voice of news-media skepticism about the government's story. On the air and online, Attkisson has questioned the administration's timeline and its response.  She has hunted down important eyewitnesses and pressed for release of documents that might shed more light on the attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens.

Report: CBS News Bosses Irked by Correspondent's Thorough Benghazi Reporting.  The biggest Benghazi-related story that took place outside of the House Oversight Committee's hearing room today is this item in Politico, regarding CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson.  She's the reporter who famously drew White House officials' profane ire over her unapologetic pursuit of the Fast & Furious scandal story; now she's apparently facing searing criticism from another source:  Her own bosses.  Why?  Because she's been covering the Benghazi story too aggressively.

Benghazi "Stand Down" Order Confirmed by New Testimony.  Tireless reporter Sharyl Attkisson set off a string of bombshells on Twitter Monday afternoon [5/6/2013], as she reported that new testimony in this week's congressional hearings will confirm that U.S. Special Forces were prevented from moving in to save the Americans under fire in Benghazi on September 11, 2012.

Salon: Benghazi 'Big Scandal,' Whistleblowers 'Credible'.  You can bet the farm that right now the media are looking at the results of the bombshell report Sharyl Attkisson of CBS News just dropped and are already coordinating a way to downplay, ignore, or discredit what looks to be a very serious White House scandal that almost certainly involves a cover up.

CBS News' Attkisson: 'Sometimes I Feel Alone' Pursuing Benghazi Story.  Only a handful of journalists have really pursued the Benghazi terror attack story.  Sharyl Attkisson of CBS News has been consistently out front challenging the Obama White House on the September 11, 2012 attack that left four Americans dead, including the US Ambassador to Libya.

Sharyl Attkisson Asks Libya Questions The Media Won't.  Today [1/23/2013] while almost all the media was gushing over outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's theatrical and less than forthcoming Senate testimony about events in Libya, CBS News' investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson tweeted out a penetrating series of unanswered questions that both the White House and its media minions will ensure are never answered.

Boom: CBS tears into White House over Benghazigate.  CBS investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson has been one of the few members of the media willing to hold the Obama Administration's feet to the fire over Benghazigate.  Despite Obama et al's toxic mixture of silence, prevarication, and obfuscation, Attkisson has doggedly pursued the truth about the September 2012 attacks that left four Americans dead.

Eric, Merrick, and Jeff.  Then there came a time when the press was making life difficult for Obama.  And Holder was determined not to let the First Amendment get in the way.  So, in 2009 the DOJ ignored Fox News reporter James Rosen's constitutional rights when it suspected him of being the source of classified leaks about North Korea.  The New York Times editorial board wrote: "With the decision to label a Fox News television reporter a possible 'co-conspirator' in a criminal investigation of a news leak, the Obama administration has moved beyond protecting government secrets to threatening fundamental freedoms of the press to gather news."

Progressive Regression.  Liberals, who now warn of Trump's "war on the press" long ago excused Eric Holder's monitoring of the Associated Press reporters and Fox News's James Rosen.  And they had no problem with John Brennan lying under oath when he claimed the Obama CIA had not monitored the computers of Senate staffers (he would lie brazenly again under oath about drone collateral damage and his role in seeding the Steele dossier).  Likewise, they snoozed after Director of National Intelligence James Clapper lied to Congress in his denial of government surveillance of U.S. citizens.

Fired U.S. Attorney Was Probing if Fox News Illegally Obtained Journalists' Phone Records, Report Says.  Former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who was fired by Attorney General Jeff Sessions after he refused to resign, was probing whether Fox News executives illegally obtained reporters' phone records, and committed fraud by hiding financial payments to some women who accused former CEO Roger Ailes of sexual harassment, according to a report by New York Magazine reporter Gabriel Sherman.  Sherman reports, "Sources told me that that prosecutors have been offering witnesses immunity to testify before a federal grand jury that's already been impaneled."

Ask James Rosen and Angela Merkel about Obama Spying.  Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said on Sunday that he would have been aware of any FISA court-ordered surveillance of Trump Tower and the Trump surrogates within during the campaign by the Obama administration.  He says he was not, implying there was none: [...] Clapper may think that the Obama administration is incapable of such an act, the same Obama administration that used the IRS in a way Richard Nixon only dreamed of in targeting the Tea Party movement.  Such an act would indeed make Watergate look like, well, a third-rate burglary.  Clapper forgets as well how the NSA and the Obama administration spied on world leaders, starting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

James Rosen on being the target of surveillance under the Obama administration.  With the Trump administration claiming Trump Tower may have been wiretapped and a spokesman for Obama denying he was involved in such a thing, some are recalling the targeting of Fox News reporter James Rosen by the Obama Department of Justice.  Rosen appeared on Fox News today to discuss his experience.  "I have to clarify that I was not wiretapped, my parents were not wiretapped, which is where you place a listening device on someone's telephone line and you listen to their conversations," Rosen said.  He continued, "What happened to me was that the Attorney General, Eric Holder, under Barack Obama as president secretly designated me a criminal co-conspirator and a flight risk and thereby had a federal judge give the government permission to rifle through all my gmails.  "They could read the emails, and then also to get all the phone records associated with about 20 phones that I used at that time in my reporting. [...]"

Obama Minions Shouldn't Act High and Mighty When It Comes to Abuse of Power.  [Scroll down]  Back in 2013 it was revealed that Obama's Justice Department snatched the phone records of over 20 reporters and editors of The Associated Press in what was characterized as a "serious interference with A.P.'s constitutional rights to gather and report the news." Obama also used the Espionage Act more than all previous presidents combined to go after leakers who fed information to the press.  How progressive.  Think Trump has a reason to be paranoid yet?  And what safeguards were put in place to protect Fox News reporter James Rosen from being labeled a "criminal co-conspirator" for merely informing Americans about what's going on around the world?  That investigation led to searches of Rosen's e-mails and phone records — all because he was just doing his job.  And don't tell me it's just a coincidence that Rosen happens to work for Fox.

'Legacy': 10 Ways Barack Obama Broke the American System.  [#8] AP scandal.  Despite the media's ongoing love affair with Obama, the administration targeted journalists for harassment, surveillance and prosecution.  In one case, the Department of Justice seized phone records from the Associated Press; in another, the DOJ searched the emails of Fox News reporter James Rosen and his family.  Congress later found Attorney General Eric Holder misled it when he told them in May 2013 he had not been involved in potential prosecution of the media.

Obama: People View Me Through Prism of a 'Fictional' Obama That TV, Fox, Limbaugh Created.  President Obama sat down with The Atlantic's Ta-Nehisi Coates for a series of interviews for Coates' 'My President Was Black' feature, and the president had a lot to say about race and the media in the past eight years.  The Atlantic yesterday [12/20/2016] and today posted the first and second of those interviews, and in both he invoked Fox News and Rush Limbaugh in talking about public perceptions of himself.  In the first interview, he said, "In 2008 I was never subjected to the kind of concentrated vilification of Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, the whole conservative-media ecosystem, and so as a consequence, even for my first two years as a senator I was polling at 70 percent."

Obama Blames Fox News, Rush Limbaugh for Creating a "Fictional" Obama in the Media.  All that Fox, Rush and the rest of the so-called conservative media ecosystem did was to try and portray Obama in a more truthful way — not through the prism of the liberal media, which helped elect him.

Obama Blames Fox News, Rush Limbaugh for Creating a "Fictional" Obama in the Media.  In a series of interviews with The Atlantic's Ta-Nehisi Coates, President Obama accused Fox News and Rush Limbaugh of vilifying him and creating a "fictional" Obama to distort his record. [... But] All that Fox, Rush and the rest of the so-called conservative media ecosystem did was to try and portray Obama in a more truthful way — not through the prism of the liberal media, which helped elect him.

Obama: Fox, Limbaugh created 'character named Barack Obama'.  President Obama said Fox News and conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh helped to convert some of his former supporters into fans of President-elect Trump by creating a caricature of Obama.  "When people criticize or respond negatively to me, usually they're responding to this character that they're seeing on TV called Barack Obama, or to the office of the presidency and the White House and what that represents.  And so you don't take it personally," Obama said during an October interview with the Atlantic's Ta-Nehisi Coates that was published Wednesday.

Cavuto to Obama:  It Wasn't Fox News, 'You Were the Reason' People Were Angry.  Fox News' Neil Cavuto ended his show today by scolding President Obama for saying Democrats lost this year, in part, because of "Fox News in every bar and restaurant."  Cavuto first got personal by talking about his open heart surgery and how he had to take personal responsibility for his health.  "Denial is deadly," he said, "so forgive me when I see the same reaction from President Obama."  He said that the president can't seem to fathom that he himself might be why Hillary Clinton lost, saying, "Fox News didn't create this populist wave, your policies did."

Obama slams Fox News (and rings the division bell, for the last time).  In a recent interview in that reprehensible wad of trash called Rolling Stone, President Obama pinpointed why the Democrats lost the election.  He blamed it on Fox News.  He initially blamed his own party for its inability to connect with voters, but then he couldn't help himself.  He did what he's done in the past when faced with denial or defeat:  He targeted my place of employment.

Obama's pathetic 'Blame Fox' excuse.  It's been a rough few weeks for President Obama.  Voters in so-called "Blue Wall" states seemingly rejected the vast majority of the president's legacy.  Whether it was ObamaCare, lax immigration enforcement or the Trans Pacific Partnership, millions of voters (many of whom voted for him in 2008 and 2012) decided they didn't want to hand the White House keys over to someone who campaigned almost entirely on the status quo.  Voters told Obama and the Democratic Party that they were out of touch with their concerns.  So how did the president respond?  Essentially:  It's all Fox News' fault.

Obama To Jann Wenner:  I Could've Been Great If Not For Fox News.  What do you get when a failed president sits down with a rape-hoaxer?  You get some very satisfying schadenfreude, that's what.  Absolutely delicious.  President Barack Hussein Obama, the second most powerful human being in the world, has just 50 days left in office.  He's getting ready to turn over the White House to a man he clearly despises.  He just watched the voters reject everything he stands for.  They're finally getting back at him for everything he's done to them over the past eight years.  His precious legacy lays before him in ruins.

Clueless:
Obama on Dems' Inability to Reach Voters: 'Part of It Is Fox News in Every Bar and Restaurant'.  Over the past few years, the president has occasionally taken swipes at Fox, joking on more than one occasion that he wouldn't vote for the version of himself talked about on the cable network.  "This is not simply an economic issue," Obama said.  "This is a cultural issue.  And a communications issue."

Obama Says He's Had A Scandal-Free Administration.  Here Are 11 of His Scandals.  [#4]  The DOJ seized Associated Press phone records as well as phone and email records from Fox News reporter James Rosen.  In the AP's case, the DOJ was investigating a story involving "a CIA operation in Yemen that foiled an al-Qaeda plot in the spring of 2012 to set off a bomb on an airplane headed to the United States," according to the Washington Post.  The DOJ seized two months of phone records from the AP without informing the news outlet.  "There can be no possible justification for such an overbroad collection of the telephone communications of The Associated Press and its reporters," Gary Pruitt, president of the AP wrote to Holder at the time.

Fox News referenced in order to edit State Department video.  An investigation by the State Department's top attorney has found that the official who ordered the censorship of a 2013 press briefing — deleting an exchange between a department spokeswoman and a Fox News reporter — specifically mentioned that exchange when ordering the doctoring of the video.  That fact, buried in a new report prepared by the department's Office of the Legal Adviser, was ignored in the report's own conclusions about why the incident occurred, and conflicted with public statements about the report made by State Department spokesman John Kirby.

Fox targeted by FEC Dems in first-ever vote to punish debate sponsorship.  Finally making good on long-harbored anger at conservative media, Democrats on the Federal Election Commission voted in secret to punish Fox News' sponsorship of a Republican presidential debate, using an obscure law to charge the network with helping those on stage.  It is the first time in history that members of the FEC voted to punish a media outlet's debate sponsorship, and it follows several years of Democratic threats against conservative media and websites like the Drudge Report.  The punishment, however, was blocked by all three Republicans on the commission, resulting in a 3-3 tie vote and no action.

Reliable Sources:  Obama 'Much More Dangerous' to the Press than Trump.  In a moment of absolute candor on CNN's Reliable Sources, David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun laid into President Barack Obama and set the record straight about who's a bigger threat to the press.  As many members of the media whine about Donald Trump giving them a piece of his mind, Zurawik guided people down memory lane and declared, "What happened to the press under Obama was really deadly."  Zurawik did agree that Trump was a threat to the press, his position to prosecute publications he didn't like being an example.  "But so far, nothing rivals what President Obama did to James Risen, did to James Rosen, and did to the AP," he stated to the rest of the panel, "Trying to criminalize reporting."  He reminded the viewers that the Obama administration served Associated Press writer James Risen and Fox News's James Rosen with subpoenas to locate their sources for leaking information to the press.

Obama Openly Declares He Wants to Censor Fox News.  Liberals hate fair and balanced FOX News.  It drives them insane.  They hate to hear anything that doesn't parrot their leftist lines exactly.  And that's doubly so now that they fear losing their iron grip on power.  The 2014 elections were a wake-up call to them.  Power is slipping from their grasp.  They know they cannot allow that to happen.

Obama: Fox News made me seem 'scary' to small-town America.  President Obama says he was able to connect with small-town folks in places like Iowa in 2008 because nobody expected him to win and he wasn't viewed through "this prism of Fox News" and other conservative media outlets that made him "scary."

Cornel West: Obama Still Too 'Afraid of Fox News' to Speak the Truth on Racism.  President Obama's interview last week with podcasting comedian Marc Maron got lots of attention for when the president said the n-word. CNN's Brian Stelter invited the always outspoken Cornel West on Reliable Sources today [6/28/2015] to react to that interview and the media's coverage of it.  West was encouraged by how much more Obama talks about these issues, but when he said that racism isn't "endemic," it's clearly a lie.  And the reason he said it, West explained, is because he's "afraid of Fox News, afraid of the right-wingers," but at this point he should be "standing up out of moral conviction."

Obama Prefers the Lie to the Truth.  Barack Obama, giving an interview on the West Coast recently, said, "If you watch Fox News you inhabit a completely different world, with different facts than if you read (the) New York Times."  Obama's point was to suggest the New York Times gives you the truth and Fox News gives you something else purported to be factual. [...] The New York Times continues to struggle and Fox News continues to dominate.  Contrary to the myths of men like Obama, Fox News is not viewed solely by conservatives, but by a great and broad group of Americans who are tired of being lied to and sneered at by the competition — a competition from which Barack Obama himself learned to sneer.

Obama Attacks Fox News Viewers — Again.  During a WTF Podcast with Marc Maron, Obama lamented that the media is "splintered" now, with all kinds of different news outlets.  "We're not in a common conversation," he said.  "If you watch Fox News you inhabit a completely different world with different facts than if you read (the) New York Times," he said.  Obama said media institutions such as Fox News and political organizations were trying to profit from polarization, and that's leaving the political system in shambles.

The Editor says...
Nonsense.  The political system thrives on "polarization."  As usual, when Barack H. Obama says something, exactly the opposite is true.

LBJ and Obama: Champions of Abject Poverty.  Lyndon Johnson was adamant.  The Great Society would cure poverty. [...] While LBJ isn't around to admit his failures, President Obama is not only here he has found a convenient scapegoat for his own failures:  Fox News.

Obama the Magnificent.  President Obama recently hinted at forcing Fox News to stop disagreeing with him ("we're going to have to change how the media reports on these issues").  Our fearless leader is so deeply fixated that he can't imagine being wrong.  Obama has a Napoleonic mindset, with no real precedent in American history.  But Napoleonic delusions are common enough in one-party dictatorships.

Charles Krauthammer: 'Pathological' President 'Doesn't Know [Anything] About Fox'.  We've all come to expect these little mask-slipping episodes from Obama these past six+ years, but comments about controlling the media are particularly unsettling.  What on earth was he proposing? [...] My own take is that Obama — our first Alinsky-trained president — loves to get in front of young audiences and spout anti-Fox News propaganda because he knows that Fox News is unpopular on college campuses.  So he gets to throw out what should be a hugely controversial trial balloon in a completely safe environment.  Of course, one can only speculate about what sort of policy prescriptions he has in mind to make the media more to his liking, but a controversial FCC program that was considered about a year ago could provide us with a clue.  In February of 2014, Republican FCC Chairman Ajit Pai blew the whistle on an FCC scheme that would have put researchers in American newsrooms to grill reporters, editors and station owners about how they decide on which stories to run.

Obama needs to keep out of newsrooms.  [Scroll down]  Anyway, the president was blathering on about how all of us folks here at the Fox News Corner of the World are a bunch of anti-poor people bigots.  He said we portray the poor as "sponges" and "leeches."  "I have to say that if you watch Fox News on a regular basis, it is a constant venue," said the president who sends his children to a posh private school and whose wife jets off to exotic vacations on the taxpayer dime.  "They will find folks who make me mad," he said about us.  "I don't know where they find them.  They're all like, 'I don't want to work.  I just want a free Obama phone, or whatever.'  And that becomes an entire narrative that gets worked up.  And very rarely do you hear an interview of a waitress, which is much more typical — who is raising a couple of kids and doing everything right but still can't pay the bills."

The Editor says...
Yes, it's true that one hardly ever hears of an interview with a waitress, unless the waitress is a material witness to something truly unusual.  Or unless the waitress has just been cheated out of her tip by a wealthy left-wing politician.

Obama rips Fox: 'We're going to have to change how the media reports'.  For going on seven years we have learned three things about President Obama:  1) He loves the poor so much he continues to create more of them.  2) He loves the poor so much he does everything in his power to keep them poor.  3) He doesn't see the opposition as loyal, but as bad players — his enemy.  This is especially true of Fox News, which Obama ripped as anti-poor bigots during a Wednesday afternoon [5/6/2014] summit on poverty.  We're used to this Obama, the forever-partisan who has never seen himself as president of all the people but only of those who worship him.  What was most revealing about the president's comments was his expressed desire to "change how the media reports."

Obama Admits That Fox News Stories About Obamaphones 'Make Me Mad'.  During a panel discussion about poverty, President Obama criticized Fox News for stereotyping poor people as "sponges" or "leeches."  Part of the problem, he explained, was that so many people think that the poor are underserving of help from the federal government, causing wealthy people to actually be angry at the poor.  "I think the effort to suggest that the poor are sponges and leeches are don't want to work, are lazy or are undeserving got traction," Obama said.  He blamed the Fox News channel for feeding that narrative.

The Left's Crusade Against Free Speech.  In October 2009, the Obama White House launched a concerted attack against critical press coverage, one unparalleled since the days of the Nixon White House.  In one respect, Barack Obama and Richard Nixon were in agreement:  both perceived a distinctly liberal bias in the media.  Nixon denounced the press for its leftism, Obama objected to the press's deviation from it.  So Obama and his senior staff singled out for condemnation Fox News, the lone television network that did not serve up the fawning coverage the president and his team had come to expect.

Obama: 'We Got 600' TV Stations and 1 'Conservative Station'.  A slip of the tongue?  An inadvertently candid bit of sarcasm?  Whatever his intention, President Barack Obama revealed to a crowd at Boise State yesterday [1/21/2015] his (correct) belief that the television media in the United States is dominated by liberals.  [Video clip]

White House Drops 'News' from Fox News Placeguards at State of the Union Lunch.  It was a subtler snub than the Obama administration's 2009 claim that Fox News was "a wing of the Republican party."  But that didn't stop Fox anchor Shepard Smith from calling out the White House for slighting the news network at Tuesday's State of the Union lunch. [...] "I sat next to Brian Williams, and we all had these placeguards, and his said 'Brian Williams, NBC News,'" Smith explained.  "And across from me was David Muir — the new guy on ABC — it said 'David Muir, ABC News.'"  "And I looked at mine, and it doesn't say anything about news," he continued, holding up the placeguard.  "It just says 'Fox.'  And I looked at [Fox anchor] Bret Baier's, and it said, 'Bret Baier, Fox.'  And all the rest of them said news."

Holder Admits He Regrets Labeling Fox's Rosen a 'Co-Conspirator'.  Before Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart ended his interview with Attorney General Eric Holder at the Washington Ideas Forum Wednesday [10/29/2014], he asked one final question:  "What's the one decision you made that you wish you could do over again?"  Without much hesitation, Holder brought up the Justice Department subpoena of Fox News reporter James Rosen, who had his communications tracked in 2009 after he was suspected of receiving secret information from government sources on North Korea.  In a subpoena to Google to obtain Rosen's emails, the government labeled him as an "aider and abettor and/or co-conspirator."

Faltering Obama Still Blaming Messenger.  Fox News may be demolishing its more liberal cable news rivals in the ratings but to Democrats it's still the bogeyman.  That's why President Obama took the opportunity to criticize the network during a speech defending his economic record at Northwestern University today [10/2/2014].  But in doing so, the president not only demonstrated the weakness of his position but also why he doesn't understand Fox's appeal.

Obama Mocks Fox News For Obamacare Reporting.  Thursday while speaking at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, President Barack Obama giggled and raised his arms as he mocked the Fox News Channel for [its] reporting on ObamaCare.

The Hit Job on Fox News.  Sixty veterans signing a much publicized "Open Letter to Fox News" — yet the signers were mysteriously never identified beyond the military branch in which they served.  No wonder.  I have been through the list of sixty, and it is filled with Obama campaign workers, one ex-Obama White House aide, liberal activists, Democratic Party congressional candidates, Democratic Party state legislators, and more.

Fox News, Enemy of State.  Marie Harf, whose career has alternated between government jobs and campaign jobs, is the deputy spokesman for the State Department, and if her recent communications are any indication, the face of the most acute foreign-policy crisis facing these United States is Bill O'Reilly's — an admittedly self-satisfied visage, to be sure, out of which pours a stream of apparently inexhaustible glibness.  But he's never beheaded anybody, so far as I know.

State Department Won't "Label" ISIS So They're Attacking Fox News Instead.  Last night on the O'Reilly Factor, Bill O'Reilly said State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki is in over her head and Deputy Spokeswoman Marie Harf is really upset about it.  Keep in mind Harf and Psaki both speak on behalf of Secretary of State John Kerry.

Supreme Court rejects effort to compel FoxNews.com reporter to reveal sources.  The Supreme Court on Tuesday [5/27/2014] rejected a last-ditch bid by the lawyers for Colorado movie theater shooting suspect James Holmes to compel FoxNews.com reporter Jana Winter to reveal confidential sources from a story or face jail.  Winter earlier had won her case before New York's highest court, which in December ruled that — thanks to New York's strong media shield law — she would not have to comply with a Colorado subpoena demanding she testify.

Obama blames Fox News for covering his scandals.  "Blaming Fox News for Obama's scandals is like blaming rubble for an earthquake."

Neil Cavuto Crushes Obama Over Latest Attack Against FOX News.  Neil Cavuto responded today [9/26/2013], in a powerful opening statement, to Obama's latest attack against the First Amendment and freedom of the press.  Obama, fresh from using the NSA to spy on the Associated Press and James Rosen, a FOX News reporter, is back to attacking one of his favorite targets, FOX News, the only major network who doesn't completely work for the Obama regime.

White House War On Fox News Continues.  It appears the cease fire in the White House's war on Fox News is now history.  White House spokesman Jay Carney has become increasingly hostile toward Fox News White House correspondent Ed Henry.  Early last week he attacked Henry's line of questioning regarding the Democrat's refusal to allow death benefits to the families of fallen military members.

Fascism: Reporters Living in Fear of Obama Administration.  We still have no answers why the Obama "Justice" Department targeted James Rosen of Fox News or tapped the phone lines of the Associated Press.  And clearly the media is too afraid to speak up. [...] If the media had any dignity they'd boycott this administration and skip the daily Jay Carney briefings.

Is Obama 'Insuring' Softball Questions?  Then there is the "phony" Department of Justice (DoJ) scandal that involves the wiretapping (or meta-data collection or whatever this invasion of privacy should most accurately be called) of the Associated Press and FOX News reporter James Rosen and Rosen's parents.  To get a judge to issue a warrant approving this activity, the DoJ even went so far as to swear to a judge that Mr. Rosen was effectively an unindicted co-conspirator under the 1917 Espionage Act.  These invalid assertions were made by the DoJ and the main investigative arm of the DoJ, the FBI.  Again, each of these organizations report to the president, either directly or indirectly.

The Mother of All Scandals.  The Associated Press/James Rosen monitoring by the Obama administration was creepy not just because it went after a heretofore obsequious media, but because Obama's lieutenants alleged that the reason was aiding and abetting the leaking of classified material.

House Judiciary chairman calls Holder's testimony 'deceptive and misleading'.  House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) slammed Attorney General Eric Holder after an investigation by Goodlatte's committee reported discrepancies between Holder's congressional testimony and decision to approve a search warrant for emails from Fox News Correspondent James Rosen.

The Obama administration scandals that wont go away.  [Scroll down]  Barely two months after the disastrous disclosure that the DOJ collected telephone records from the Associated Press and a variety of phone records and emails from Fox News reporter James Rosen, that embarrassing episode appears to be winding down.

House panel vows report on Justice's probe of Fox reporter.  The House Judiciary Committee on Friday announced plans to issue a report on the Justice Department's secret spying of a Fox News reporter's emails and phone records, a move that came after a meeting with Attorney General Eric Holder.  Committee chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), ranking member John Conyers (D-Mich.) and Reps. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) and Bobby Scott (D-Va) said the private meeting with Holder revealed new information about the DOJ's leak investigation involving the reporter, James Rosen.

Eric Holder: James Rosen probe 'appropriate'.  Attorney General Eric Holder is defending his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee in a new letter, reiterating that he did not lie when he told the committee no journalists have been prosecuted by the Justice Department for publishing leaks.  Holder called the investigation that involved Fox News reporter James Rosen "appropriate," saying again that charges were never brought against Rosen and saying the committee might have misinterpreted his remarks.

Witch Hunting, 2013: NSA, IRS, Justice.  [Scroll down]  Another example is the Justice Department's investigation of Fox News reporter James Rosen, who was labeled as a "co-conspirator" when Justice went behind his back to track his phone calls and movements.  The fact that the government side of the "conspiracy" was not mentioned (for how can there be just one "co" conspirator?) suggests an open-ended attempt at targeting and/or intimidation.

Meet Obama's Leak Plumber.  Ronald C. Machen, Jr. [is] the Obama-appointed U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.  In the year since he was made a leak plumber, Machen has cut an extraordinary swath.  It was Machen's office which issued the warrant request in 2010 for the emails and phone records of James Rosen, the Fox News reporter caught up in that leak about North Korea's nuclear programand it came to light this spring.  It's his office that got those Associated Press phone records.

The felonious fibbers.  The problem starts at the top with Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. [...] Asked about targeting journalists for criminal prosecutions, he said he had never been involved in a prosecution of the journalists.  Shortly after his testimony, Justice Department officials conceded that Mr. Holder personally approved a search-warrant application for Fox News journalist James Rosen that named him a probable co-conspirator in a leak investigation.

FBI Director Mueller Defends Investigation But Not Prosecution Of Fox Reporter James Rosen.  During a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday [6/13/2013], FBI Director Robert Mueller answered pointed questions by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) relating to the Department of Justice's decision to investigate but not prosecute Fox News Channel reporter James Rosen.  Muller said that he was not familiar with the details of that case.  However, he said that it is not uncommon for an individual to be named as a target of investigation but never be prosecuted.

The Casual Tyrant.  It takes a special brand of chutzpah to use one's own misdeeds as an occasion for "debate" or "updating" the law. [...] Eric Holder experimented with that tactic after he got nabbed for hacking into the emails of journalist James Rosen on a subpoena that defined him as a criminal spy.  Instead of quitting, Holder dug in, casting the scandal as a learning experience for the nation, as if he had nothing to do with it.  Now Obama is trying out that tactic to mollify Americans over the exposed NSA program.  He is open to a "healthy" debate about it.  Holder and Obama are like drunk drivers who cause a pile-up and then stroll back innocently to see if they can "help."

White House Renews Attack on Fox News.  A full five days after the September 11 terror attack in Benghazi, we are apparently supposed to believe Susan Rice was the only person in America who had no idea whatsoever four Americans might have just maybe/probably been the victims of a terror attack.

Could Rosen warrant endanger prosecution of leaker?  Bear in mind that the warrant application for Fox News' James Rosen attempted to get unlimited access to Rosen's e-mail and phone records, on the basis that he too was a potential prosecution target as a co-conspirator to espionage.  Now the Department of Justice, in its haste to protect Eric Holder from a perjury charge, says the warrant is immaterial to his statements to Congress because the DoJ never intended to prosecute Rosen despite the representation made in the warrant.  They wanted to go after the leaker, Stephen Jin-Woo Kim.

Justice defends Holder, says AG didn't lie to Congress in hearing.  The Justice Department on Monday said Attorney General Eric Holder did not lie to Congress in his testimony about a national security investigation involving Fox News reporter James Rosen.  Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Peter Kadzik said the DOJ never intended to prosecute Rosen, but was merely investigating him as part of a broader probe against a State Department employee believed to have leaked information to the reporter.

Did Eric Holder Also Lie... to a Judge?  In his warrant application, Holder claimed to be interested in investigating James Rosen as a coconspirator in an espionage case.  In addition, he claimed Rosen was a "flight risk," which would justify even closer monitoring (to make sure he wasn't buying plane tickets on Kayak, I suppose).  Now he says he never had any intention of prosecuting Rosen.  In other words:  He now says he lied when he told the judge these things, in order to secure his license to snoop on Rosen.  Well, which is it?

7 Reasons Why the Media Shouldn't Keep Eric Holder's Secrets.  The basic facts:  The Justice Department seized telephone records at the Associated Press as part of an investigation into the leak of a foiled terrorist plot.  The media spying was unprecedented in its scope and in violation of the department's own guidelines.  In a separate leak investigation, the department monitored the e-mails and whereabouts of a Fox News reporter.  In a warrant application, Holder's team labeled the reporter a criminal coconspirator.

Did Eric Holder Commit Perjury? It Looks That Way.  In his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, Eric Holder was asked whether the Justice Department could prosecute reporters under the Espionage Act of 1917.  This was his answer:  ["]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.["]  Later, the Department of Justice disclosed that Holder had personally approved the application for the search warrant for James Rosen's Gmail account.

'I hate my policies'.  Attorney General Eric Holder says (or had his flunkies say) he only understood the severity of his own actions against Fox News reporter James Rosen when he was sitting at his breakfast table reading The Washington Post on a Monday morning.  Yes, that's what he told the Daily Beast, which did him the inestimable favor of not crumpling to the ground in hysterical peals of laughter.  For one thing, the story about the Rosen subpoena was released on the [New York] Post's Web site the day before.

Report: Holder Went Judge Shopping To Obtain Fox News Subpoena.  The New Yorker's Ryan Lizza, a bulldog on the DOJ/Fox News secret subpoena story, reports that the effort by the Justice Department to obtain the controversial court order was arduous, contentious and unsuccessful until finally a third judge acquiesced.

News Corp says [it] has no record of Fox News subpoena.  News Corp said on Monday [5/27/2013] it is still reviewing whether it has any record of a notification from the United States government involving a subpoena for a Fox News reporter's phone records.

What Comes Next: Fox vs. Obama.  Members of the press, who consistently hide behind their own objectivity, have been forced to come out in Fox News' favor in the Department of Justice targeting of Fox News journalist James Rosen.  Democrats have been forced to come out of the woodwork to declare that the Obama administration's treatment of journalists has indeed been abysmal.

Fox News vs. the Cult of Obama.  It is impossible to understand the Obama administration's uniquely hostile treatment of Fox News without understanding the self-image of the Obama team.  On the one hand, the targeting of Fox News for isolation and surveillance suggests an administration so lacking in competence that it cannot tolerate criticism or scrutiny.  On the other, the attacks suggest hubris, a confidence that few would ever object to its conduct.

Attorney General Eric Holder Reportedly Felt 'Personal Remorse' Over Fox News Subpoena.  After reading the [Washington] Post front-page story on the Rosen leak probe, in addition to the ongoing AP snooping story, Holder's aides claim the AG began to feel a "creeping sense of personal remorse."  Despite having personally signed off on the search of Rosen's private information, "the gravity of the situation didn't fully sink in" for Holder until he saw the newspaper report based on the affidavit for the search warrant that helped the feds obtain Rosen's private data.

The Bully Pulpit.  The government's power to bully people who have broken no law is dangerous to all of us.  When Attorney General Eric Holder's Justice Department started keeping track of phone calls going to Fox News Channel reporter James Rosen (and his parents), that was firing a shot across the bow of Fox News — and of any other reporters or networks that dared to criticize the Obama administration.

Senators say Holder can't 'review' himself on news media snooping.  Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.'s direct involvement in the Justice Department's decisions to spy on the press should disqualify him from heading any review of the unfolding controversy, Republicans said Sunday.  Questions have been raised about the attorney general's role in two Justice Department investigations of leaks, one involving a massive seizure of Associated Press phone records and another an aggressive probe of Fox News reporter James Rosen's private emails.

DOJ Begged Judge to Keep Fox Reporter in Dark About Monitoring.  The Justice Department begged a federal judge to not tell Fox News reporter James Rosen that it was tracking his telephone calls and emails in a probe regarding a national security leak.  U.S. Attorney Ron Machen argued in 2010 that the traditional 30-day notice period did not apply to Rosen as Justice secretly monitored his Gmail account, according to new exhibits unsealed this week and disclosed by The Hill.

Holder Perjury: Two Judges Refused Before Holder Got Fox Warrant.  This isn't going to go down well for Eric Holder and the administration.  Last night [5/23/2013] NBC News reported that it was AG Holder who personally approved the decision to go after Fox News' James Rosen.  Today the Department of Justice told Reuters the NBC report is correct, possibly setting up the Attorney General to be indited for perjury.

News Corp. Says It Was Not Told of Subpoena for Reporter's Phone Records.  News Corporation said on Sunday that it had no record of being notified by the Justice Department nearly three years ago of a subpoena for the telephone records of a reporter at its Fox News cable channel.  The company's chief legal counsel at the time also said that he had never seen material from the government related to the subpoena.

White House silent about Holder approving Fox News probe.  NBC News reported Thursday that Holder approved the search of Fox News reporter James Rosen's private emails and phone records in a probe of leaked government information.  That revelation came just as the president ordered Holder to review Justice Department guidelines for investigating reporters.  White House officials have not yet responded to requests for comment from The Washington Examiner about Holder's role in the matter.

Eric Holder was aware that Fox News reporter was to be snooped on.  U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder approved the decision to seize phone records and personal emails of FOX News reporter James Rosen, the Justice Department disclosed late Friday [5/24/2013].  The journalist's messages were obtained after investigators checked with 'the highest levels of the department, including discussions with the Attorney General,' the department said in a statement.

More than all past presidents, Obama uses 1917 Espionage Act to go after reporters.  There is one problem with the entirely justified if self-interested media squawking about the Justice Department snooping into the phone records of multiple Associated Press reporters and Fox News' James Rosen.  The problem is that what the AP reporters and Rosen did arguably violates the letter of the law.

Uncle Sam Wants You... Under His Thumb!  Obama and his administration apparently hate leaks, which is seemingly how they define any truth published in the media which is "leaked" by anyone other than themselves.  So if a reporter asks a question of a governmental official, and gets an answer, and then publishes that answer, he or she is subjected to massive research of his or his organization's phone records, the phone records of others in his or her organization, and, unbelievably, research on the phone records of his or her parents.  Once again, the administration is trashing the 1st Amendment, and doing its level best to suppress speech that might in even the slightest way run counter to the administration's institutional narrative.

Tyranny around the corner — Team Obama trashes Constitution to pursue opponents.  [Scroll down]  The government's behavior here is very troubling. Government lawyers and FBI agents are charged with knowing the law.  They must have known that Rosen committed no crime, and they no doubt never intended to charge him, and they never have.  They materially misled the judge, who saw the phrase "probable cause" of criminal activity (taken from the Fourth Amendment) in their affidavit in support of the search warrant they sought, and he signed.  The judge should have seen this for the ruse it was.

'Holder'ing the bag.  Attorney General Eric Holder's fingerprints are all over an FBI warrant that authorized snooping on Fox News reporter James Rosen, the Justice Department confirmed yesterday [5/24/2013].  The FBI warrant that sought Rosen's private e-mails as part of a leak investigation and called him a possible "co-conspirator" in a crime was authorized "at the highest levels of the department, including discussions with the Attorney General," according to the Justice Department.

In the matter of James Rosen.  The latest reporting in the matter of Fox News Channel's James Rosen indicates the Obama administration fought to keep the search warrant for Rosen's private email account secret, arguing that the government might need to monitor the account for a lengthy period of time.

Obama Orders Eric Holder To Investigate Himself.  The president worries about the "chilling effect" of leak investigations as his attorney general signs the warrant labeling a Fox News reporter as a violator of the Espionage Act.  The hypocrisy is breathtaking.

Obama Says Don't Fear Gov't; Tell That To Fox News.  Even Barack Obama's cheerleaders are gagging at the latest news of spying on reporters.  But will they also understand that this is just part of a much broader attack on freedom?

In 1949, this definition of "terrorism" could be found on page 1346 of
Funk & Wagnall's Standard Dictionary of the English Language.

DOJ Acknoweldges that Holder Signed Off on Subpoena for Fox Reporter's Emails and Phone Records.  Eric Holder did it.  Then he lied about it.  Between doing it and lying about it, he tried to hide it.

Obama DOJ Fought to Keep Search of Rosen Emails Secret.  Late on Friday [5/24/2013], the New Yorker's Ryan Lizza reported that the Obama administration did not merely greenlight a search warrant on Fox News reporter James Rosen's email account — it "fought" to prevent Rosen from learning about it.  Ronald C. Machen, Jr., the US attorney prosecuting former State Department advisor and alleged leaker Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, asked a judge to prevent Rosen from learning about the search and seizure of his emails.

Holder OK'd search warrant for Fox News reporter's private emails, official says.  The Justice Department pledged Friday [5/24/2013] to to review its policies relating to the seizure of information from journalists after acknowledging that a controversial search warrant for a Fox News reporter's private emails was approved "at the highest levels" of the Justice Department, including "discussions" with Attorney General Eric Holder.

Holder must go.  Attorney General Eric Holder signed off on a controversial search warrant that identified Fox News reporter James Rosen as a "possible co-conspirator" in violations of the Espionage Act and authorized seizure of his private emails, a law enforcement official told NBC News on Thursday [5/23/2013].

Eric Holder personally approved the seizure of Fox News reporter's emails.  Attorney General Eric Holder personally signed off on the controversial search warrant that identified Fox News chief Washington correspondent James Rosen as a 'possible co-conspirator' in violations of the Espionage Act and authorized seizure of his private emails, an unnamed law enforcement official has claimed.

Don't Edit the First Amendment.  The revelation that the Obama Justice Department has gone to unprecedented lengths to hamper or punish journalists is real news.  DOJ trawlers dropped a gill net over the Associated Press in the hope of landing a single fish.

DOJ invoked Espionage Act in calling Fox News reporter criminal 'co-conspirator'.  The Justice Department did more than seize a Fox News reporter's emails while suggesting he was a criminal "co-conspirator" in a leak case — it did so under one of the most serious wartime laws in America, the Espionage Act.  It's the same law used by the Nixon administration to go after The New York Times and Daniel Ellsberg over the leak of the Pentagon Papers.

How Prosecutors Fought to Keep Rosen's Warrant Secret.  The Obama Administration fought to keep a search warrant for James Rosen's private e-mail account secret, arguing to a federal judge that the government might need to monitor the account for a lengthy period of time.  The new details are revealed in a court filing detailing a back and forth between the Justice Department and the federal judges who oversaw the request to search a Gmail account belonging to Rosen, a reporter for Fox News.

Judge apologizes for lack of transparency in James Rosen leak probe.  The chief judge of the District's federal court issued an unusual order Wednesday, apologizing to the public and the media for not making certain court documents widely available online.  The gesture of transparency by U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth comes at a time when the Obama administration is under scrutiny for an unprecedented number of leak investigations, including one showing that the Justice Department had secretly probed the news-gathering activities of Fox News reporter James Rosen.

U.S. Attorney Investigating Fox News Donated to Obama.  The US Attorney for the District of Columbia, Ronald C. Machen — the man responsible for the aggressive surveillance and phone record scrutiny at Fox News — is also a big donor to the Obama Campaigns.

Prosecutor Going After Fox News is Big Obama Donor.  Well as usual, nothing to see here.  Just a political crony ruthlessly going after an investigative reporter working for an opposition media outlet using the full force of the law in a completely unprecedented way.

DOJ seized phone records for Fox News numbers, reporter's parents.  Newly uncovered court documents reveal the Justice Department seized records of several Fox News phone lines as part of a leak investigation — even listing a number that, according to one source, matches the home phone number of a reporter's parents.  The seizure was ordered in addition to a court-approved search warrant for Fox News correspondent James Rosen's personal emails.  In the affidavit seeking that warrant, an FBI agent called Rosen a likely criminal "co-conspirator," citing a wartime law called the Espionage Act.

The Obama Administration Dares The Press To Respond To Intimidation Tactics.  In a two-fold assault on the freedom of the press, President Barack Obama's Department of Justice has been implicated in efforts designed to intimidate both the press and their sources. [...] The DOJ subpoenaed the records for 21 phone lines in five separate AP offices, including a line that had been inactive for six years.  Those lines have been used by at least 100 reporters and reveal tradecraft and methods that AP reporters use to gather facts and build cases in their reporting.

The Justice Department and Fox News's Phone Records.  The Obama Justice Department has seized the phone records of numbers that are associated with White House staffers and, apparently, with Fox News reporters, according to a document filed in the case of Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, on October 13, 2011.  Kim is a former State Department contractor accused of violating the Espionage Act for allegedly leaking classified information to James Rosen, a Fox News reporter.

Democrats and Republicans Unite on Bill to Shield Press From Gov't Intrusion.  A bipartisan group of House members introduced legislation on Wednesday to protect journalists from government snooping.  "Freedom of the press is a foundational freedom upon which all of our other freedoms and liberties are based and protected," said Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.).  The Free Flow of Information Act, H.R. 1962, would protect reporters by preventing the government from compelling the disclosure of their source material, except under certain exceptions that must go through judicial review.  Those exceptions include cases where it is necessary to prevent an act of terrorism, imminent death, or other harm to national security.

Fox's Bret Baier Reveals That DOJ Also Seized Phone Records For James Rosen's Parents.  During a panel discussion on the Department of Justice seizing the phone records of Fox News' James Rosen, Bret Baier revealed that the seizure included the phone records of Rosen's parents.  The entire panel agreed the scandal was an outrage, with Kirsten Powers pointing out that there have been a number of high-profile leaks from the Obama administration, but the only ones they seem interested in going after are the ones that make them look bad.

All of Obama's Scandals Are Ultimately About Information Control.  There's really no reason for the press to suggest that the recent slew of scandals involving the Obama administration — Benghazi, the AP phone-record seizure, the snooping in James Rosen's e-mail, the IRS's targeting of conservative groups, and so on — are a confusing jumble.  There is a very clear thread running through all of the administration's actions.

In AP, Rosen investigations, government makes criminals of reporters.  Liberals may not be particularly bothered because the targeted journalist works for Fox News.  Conservatives may not be concerned because of their antipathy toward the news media generally.  And the general public certainly doesn't have much patience for journalists' whining.  But here's why you should care — and why this case, along with the administration's broad snooping into Associated Press phone records, is more serious than the other supposed Obama administration scandals regarding Benghazi and the Internal Revenue Service.

Fox News Phone Records Searched.  Federal investigators apparently accessed records of calls to and from a phone number at Fox News Channel in their leak investigation of a former State Department contractor, according to a court document.  News of the government's search of Fox News phone records comes after controversy broke out last week over a separate leak investigation in which prosecutors seized the call details of roughly 20 phone numbers of reporters and editors at the Associated Press.

DOJ seized phone records of numbers tied to Fox News lines, documents show.  Newly uncovered court documents reveal the Justice Department seized records of several Fox News phone lines as part of a leak investigation — even listing a number that, according to one source, matches the home phone number of a reporter's parents.  The seizure was ordered in addition to a court-approved search warrant for Fox News correspondent James Rosen's personal emails.  In the affidavit seeking that warrant, an FBI agent called Rosen a likely criminal "co-conspirator," citing a wartime law called the Espionage Act.

Obama's War on Journalism: 'An Unconstitutional Act'.  The press-punishing, speech-chilling, and unabashedly overreaching actions by the Obama administration against the Associated Press and Fox News Channel's James Rosen lay bare the essential dynamic between any president and a press that is always more prone to being lapdogs than watchdogs:  the president feeds or punishes them as he sees fit, while chanting a bogus rosary about "national security."

U.S. Attorney Investigating Fox News Donated to Obama.  The US Attorney for the District of Columbia, Ronald C. Machen — the man responsible for the aggressive surveillance and phone record scrutiny at Fox News — is also a big donor to the Obama Campaigns.

N.Y. Times editorial board: Obama administration threatening press freedom.  The New York Times editorial board has condemned the Obama administration for threatening press freedom in the wake of revelations that the Justice Dept. seized phone records belonging to Fox News reporter James Rosen.

Another Chilling Leak Investigation.  With the decision to label a Fox News television reporter a possible "co-conspirator" in a criminal investigation of a news leak, the Obama administration has moved beyond protecting government secrets to threatening fundamental freedoms of the press to gather news.  The latest reported episode involves James Rosen, the chief Washington correspondent for Fox News.

The Fox Gets Hounded.  Obama's Justice Department just can't leave Fox News alone.  It's not just James Rosen they're after, the Dailymail is reporting that William La Jeunesse and his producer Mike Levine were also investigated by the DOJ.  In fact, they were the subject of subpoenas, but never notified by the government.

Remember when Fox News wasn't 'real news'?  We now know that the Justice Department kept exceptionally close tabs on Fox News reporter James Rosen in 2010, following his trips in and out of the State Department, hacking his personal emails and phone calls.  Normal newsgathering activities are being treated as criminal activities by the White House.  But consider what the same White House had to say about Fox News back in 2009.

The D.O.J. Versus James Rosen.  The Washington Post reported today [5/21/2013] that, in the course of a leak investigation of a State Department employee who allegedly provided Fox News's James Rosen with classified information, the Obama Justice Department not only subpoenaed Rosen's private e-mails but also said that Rosen was "an aider and abettor and/or co-conspirator" in the alleged crime.

For Barack Obama, speech isn't free when it criticizes him.  [Scroll down]  Finally, the administration secretly tracked the phone calls of the Associated Press to root out who leaked the report of a drone strike.  Then the CIA told AP to hold off on the story so that Obama could announce it first.  This has a chilling affect on journalists.  But it's also the latest salvo in the Obama administration's war on whistleblowers.

Justice Department's scrutiny of Fox News reporter James Rosen in leak case draws fire.  Journalists, First Amendment watchdogs and government transparency advocates reacted with outrage Monday [5/20/2013] to the revelation that the Justice Department had investigated the newsgathering activities of a Fox News reporter as a potential crime in a probe of classified leaks.  Critics said the government's suggestion that James Rosen, Fox News's chief Washington correspondent, was a "co-conspirator" for soliciting classified information threatened to criminalize press freedoms protected by the First Amendment.

Report: Justice Department targeted two Fox News Channel reporters and a producer for talking with government sources.  James Rosen, the network's chief Washington correspondent, has become a First Amendment cause celebre over his treatment by the Obama administration.  But the DOJ, Fox says, also investigated the Emmy Award-winning investigative reporter William La Jeunesse and Fox News producer Mike Levine.

A Journalist 'Co-Conspirator'.  The feds have charged intelligence analyst Stephen Jin-Woo Kim with disclosing classified information to Fox reporter James Rosen.  That's not a surprise considering that this Administration has prosecuted more national-security cases than any in recent history.  The shock is that as part of its probe the Administration sought and obtained a warrant to search Mr. Rosen's personal email account.  And it justified such a sweeping secret search by telling the judge that Mr. Rosen was part of the conspiracy merely because he acted like a journalist.

The Obama Objective: To Control The News.  The latest news that the Justice Department investigated Fox News reporter James Rosen and two other newsmen in the normal course of their investigative reporting on a national security matter  — coming on the heels of their seizure of Associated Press phone records — suggests an administration obsessed with controlling the news itself with a heavy hand reminiscent of totalitarian regimes.

Obama administration mistakes journalism for espionage.  The Obama administration has no business rummaging through journalists' phone records, perusing their e-mails and tracking their movements in an attempt to keep them from gathering news.  This heavy-handed business isn't chilling, it's just plain cold.  It also may well be unconstitutional.

Fox News Reporter May Face Criminal Charges for Reporting on the CIA.  The government will use any and all information at its disposal to find journalist sources, as shown in The Washington Post's report this morning on a Department of Justice investigation into Fox News chief correspondent James Rosen, who may face criminal charges for reporting government secrets.

How Hope and Change Gave Way To Spying on the Press.  Turns out it's a fairly swift sojourn from a president pushing to "delegitimize" a news organization to threatening criminal prosecution for journalistic activity by a Fox News reporter, James Rosen, to spying on Associated Press reporters.  In between, the Obama administration found time to relentlessly persecute government whistleblowers and publicly harass and condemn a private American citizen for expressing his constitutionally protected speech in the form of an anti-Islam YouTube video.  Where were the media when all this began happening? With a few exceptions, they were acting as quiet enablers.

Holder walks fine line on prosecuting journalists.  Attorney General Eric Holder's rejection last week of the idea of prosecuting journalists for publishing classified information sounded categorical and absolute.  But was it?  Under questioning by Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), Holder dismissed the notion of prosecuting reporters as, basically, nuts.

Judge ruled feds need not notify Fox reporter of search.  A federal judge in Washington ruled in 2010 that the Justice Department was not required by law to notify Fox reporter James Rosen that prosecutors had obtained his emails in connection with an investigation into a leak about North Korean plans to test a nuclear weapon.  In September 2010, Chief U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth overruled the conclusion of federal magistrate John Facciola that Rosen — whose Gmail account was searched — was entitled by law to be informed.  Prosecutors contended that under the statute used to get Rosen's emails, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, they were not required to provide any notice of the search.

The Most Chilling Details From The Kafkaesque Search Warrant That Went After A Fox News Reporter.  In [James] Rosen's case, that included implicating him as a "criminal co-conspirator" whose actions were punishable with up to 10 years in prison.  While it is not uncommon for the government to investigate leaks, it is unprecedented for a journalist to be accused of committing a crime for reporting on classified information.  The Justice Department's application for the search warrant for Rosen's Gmail account reveals the extent of the administration's Orwellian maneuvers.

Megyn Kelly Calls Out DOJ for Tracking Movements of Fox News Reporter.  We're learning more by the minute following an explosive report by the Washington Post about the Justice Department monitoring the movements of Fox News Chief Washington Correspondent James Rosen.  The DOJ was reportedly looking into Rosen's visits to the State Department, via his security badge, in addition to obtaining search warrants for his personal phone and emails.

Fox News Will Defend Reporter Against 'Co-Conspirator' Charge.  The Justice Department, already under fire for seizing AP phone records, also viewed e-mails of Fox News chief Washington correspondent James Rosen, calling him a criminal 'co-conspirator' for his reporting.  Fox News' executive vice president of news, Michael Clemente, released a statement defending Rosen.

Fox News Reporter James Rosen's Private Emails Given To Justice Dept. By Google.  As a result of Fox News Channel's State Department reporter James Rosen's 2009 investigation into the government's response to North Korea's repeated provocations, it was reported on Monday [5/20/2013] that the Department of Justice tracked Rosen's movements as well as subpoenaed telephone and email records.  According to the DoJ's subpoena, Google surrendered Rosen's emails, who is described as "an aider and abettor and/or co-conspirator," to the government.

Report: Three Fox News Staffers Targeted By Justice Department.  Fox News reports that three Fox staffers, two reporters and one producer, were targeted by Barack Obama's Justice Department.  Fox doesn't have all the details yet on reporter William La Jeunesse and producer Mike Levine, but their emails showed up in a IG report regarding Fast and Furious.  Either their emails were leaked by the Justice Department officials they were sent to, or the email accounts of both were subpoenaed and invaded by government investigators.

Brit Hume: 'Chilling' Search Of Fox Reporter Shows DOJ Treats 'Ordinary News Gathering As Crime'.  Fox News senior political analyst Brit Hume had strong words to describe the news that his colleague James Rosen was subject to a federal leak investigation, telling America's Newsroom that the story may indicate that the Obama Justice Department wants to treat ordinary news-gathering activities as a crime.

Outside the Gates.  The Obama administration has even turned like a poorly bred Doberman on its very best friends.  So far, we know that no less than 20 AP reporters have had their phone records seized, allegedly to look for leakers.  The Washington Post is reporting that Fox News' James Rosen had his email hacked, phone calls traced and State Department key card tracked.  This is KGB behavior.  We know the president is no fan of Fox News, but the First Amendment applies even to networks which allow conservatives to talk.

Shredding the Constitution: Obama's attack on the media.  The president hasn't attempted to distance himself from the Associated Press snooping campaign.  To the contrary, he offered "no apologies."  To be blunt, he approves the most invasive breach of the First Amendment against any news organization in the history of the republic.  No president has tried this and for good reason.  We now have yet another media abuse story, in a way much more severe.  The Post breaks the story that the Obama administration indulged in excruciatingly invasive spying on James Rosen of Fox News and, in an unprecedented move, asserted that his newsgathering is criminal.

WashPost Reports Obama DOJ Also Spied on James Rosen of Fox News.  The Washington Post on Monday [5/20/2013] reported that Obama's Department of Justice was investigating journalists before they started wiretapping the Associated Press — for one, Fox News correspondent James Rosen in 2010.  Their headline wasn't "Obama Team Also Spied on Fox News."  Fox wasn't in the headline, on A-1 or on A-12, where the story continued.

The Obama administration's history of targeting the media.  It began gently enough.  Back in 2008, then-candidate Barack Obama traveled to Manhattan for a special mission:  a personal sit-down with Fox News chief Roger Ailes.  The goal of the meeting?  Obama wanted Sean Hannity to ease up on the criticism.

By Badge, Phone & Email: Here's How Obama's DOJ Snooped on Top Fox News Reporter.  A story posted by The Washington Post on Sunday Evening [5/19/2013] will stir new debate and review over the tactics used by the Obama administration to monitor how journalists interact with government sources.  The reporter in focus — James Rosen a top Washington Correspondent for Fox News.

A rare peek into a Justice Department leak probe.  The case of Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, the government adviser, and James Rosen, the chief Washington correspondent for Fox News, bears striking similarities to a sweeping leaks investigation disclosed last week in which federal investigators obtained records over two months of more than 20 telephone lines assigned to the Associated Press.

Obama vs. Fox News — behind the White House strategy to delegitimize a news organization.  There is no war on terror for the Obama White House, but there is one on Fox News.  In a recent interview with The New Republic, President Obama was back to his grousing about the one television news outlet in America that won't fall in line and treat him as emperor.  Discussing breaking Washington's partisan gridlock, the president told TNR,"If a Republican member of Congress is not punished on Fox News... for working with a Democrat on a bill of common interest, then you'll see more of them doing it."

Charles Krauthammer: I love to hear the president whine about FOX News and talk radio.  Last night [1/28/2013] on FOX News, political analyst Charles Krauthammer explained that he was delighted after he heard Obama's recent comments about FOX News and talk radio.  "I love to hear the president whine about FOX News and talk radio," he said adding that "I think we ought to be proud of the fact that we annoy him so much."

Fox News Fights Back Against Obama Smear.  Recently in an interview with the liberal magazine the New Republic on "his enemies, the media and the future of football," President Obama took aim not just at his antagonists on Capitol Hill but also those in the press, particularly Fox News.  He told the New Republic:  ["]One of the biggest factors is going to be how the media shapes debates.  If a Republican member of Congress is not punished on Fox News or by Rush Limbaugh for working with a Democrat on a bill of common interest, then you'll see more of them doing it.["]

Obama Threatens Fox News, Limbaugh.  Despite the fact that Obama's policies have been abysmal failures on virtually every front, the question for Obama is not what to do, but how to swindle the American people into doing it.

Is the White House freezing Fox out of pressers?  It's no secret that Fox News is not Barack Obama's favorite news channel.  In his first year, the White House more or less declared war on Fox, suspending its strategy only when other media outlets began to publicly criticize Obama for it, blocking the White House attempt to freeze Fox out of coverage.  They may have relented publicly on the deep freeze, but a new study by the University of Minnesota's Eric Ostermeier suggests that the Obama administration has quietly imposed a big chill on Fox instead.

Study: Fox News shunned at Obama press conferences, 9th among news outlets.  It's no secret that the White House carefully scripts its press conferences, and a new study from the University of Minnesota has quantified just how much President Barack Obama plays favorites in the press briefing room.  The analysis, published on Wednesday by the Smart Politics group at the university's Humphrey School of Public Affairs, took a look at all of the president's press conferences in his first term, and determined ABC, CBS, the Associated Press and NBC were favorites of Obama.

Kirsten Powers, the Last Liberal?  Last week Kirsten Powers, one of the more visible Democratic contributors to Fox News, wrote a lengthy piece for that organization's website called "Obama vs. Fox News — behind the White House strategy to delegitimize a news organization." [...] "There is no war on terror for the Obama White House," her op-ed began, "but there is one on Fox News."

This is an original compilation, Copyright © 2024 by Andrew K. Dart

Report: Obama's Spying On The Press Was Far More Extensive Than Previously Thought.  President Trump might be openly hostile to the mainstream media, but it was the Obama administration that was engaged in a widespread effort to thwart the media.  Which do you think is more harmful to a free press?  The full extent of Obama's actions against the press are only now coming to light.  The Columbia Journalism Review reports on a newly released government document showing that the Obama Justice Department engaged in a far more sweeping effort to spy on the Associated Press than previously believed.

Cruz Letter: Why is the IRS Auditing Breitbart News?  U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, today sent the following letter to the Internal Revenue Service regarding its decision to audit Breitbart News Network, LLC.

IRS Under Fire for Targeting Conservatives Again ... and This Time It's a Media Outlet.  The Internal Revenue Service, already under investigation for illegally targeting conservative and tea party groups, recently audited the conservative Breitbart News Network in a move that the company says was politically motivated.  The IRS sought the company's financial records from 2012, Fox News reported earlier today.  Brietbart.com relaunched that year with a more robust reporting team.  Over the past two years, it has produced hard-hitting stories exposing scandals in the Obama administration.

Breitbart News says IRS targeted company for audit.  The company that runs the conservative Breitbart.com news site says the IRS has selected the network for an audit, in a move company executives suggest is politically motivated.  Breitbart News Network, a California-based company which runs several conservative websites, says the IRS recently audited its 2012 financial information.  "The Obama administration's timing on this is exquisite, but try as they might through various methods to silence us, we will only get more emboldened," Stephen K. Bannon, executive chairman of Breitbart News Network, said in a written statement.