Justice Department
IRS chief defends targeting of groups as ‘obnoxious,’ not illegal
By Bernie Becker and Peter Schroeder – The Hill – 05/17/13
Acting IRS chief Steven Miller on Friday said he did not believe agency officials did anything illegal when giving extra scrutiny to conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status.
US attorney claims no knowledge of AP phone taps
RT | May 16, 2013
US Attorney General Eric Holder has claimed he was unaware of the subpoenas for AP’s phone records, but defended them as a necessary measure. Holder recused himself from the case that has been branded as an “unprecedented intrusion” into press freedom.
DOJ’s AP Phone Logs Grab Highlights Renewed Need for Shield Law
By Gabe Rottman | ACLU | May 15, 2013
Although the president’s press secretary noted yesterday then-Senator Obama’s support for a federal shield law to protect reporters from having to disclose their sources, he failed to mention how the White House deep-sixed a comprehensive shield bill back in 2009. That bill could have prevented the extraordinary Associated Press subpoena, which was disclosed this week.
Holder Can’t Even Count How Often DOJ Spies on Journalists
Via NPR, Holder said yesterday in a news conference that he’s not sure how many times he’s signed off on Justice Department requests to spy on journalists:
“I’m not sure how many of those cases…I have actually signed off on,” Holder said. “I take them very seriously. I know that I have refused to sign a few [and] pushed a few back for modifications.
Benghazi: Who Cares?
Now that Republicans have legitimate and troubling scandals on which to criticize the Obama administration—the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative groups and the Justice Department’s broad seizure of the Associated Press’s phone records—hopefully they will forget their inane focus on the “cover up” involving the attack on the Benghazi diplomatic compound in Libya. But [...]
DOJ Snooping on Journalists: A Witch Hunt to Enforce Obama Demand for Total Secrecy
When the Iran-Contra scandal broke out, President Reagan went on national television and played dumb.
US: Justice Department secretly seized AP reporters’ phone records
By Brendan Sasso and Jordy Yager – The Hill - 05/13/13
Federal prosecutors secretly obtained two months’ worth of telephone records of Associated Press journalists in what the news agency described Monday as a “massive and unprecedented intrusion.”
Obama to support Internet wiretapping program
RT | May 08, 2013
United States President Barack Obama is likely to endorse a Federal Bureau of Investigation effort that would ensure all Internet companies in the US provide a way for the government to conduct undetected, backdoor surveillance.