Obama Administration Secretly Spied on the Associated Press

Activist Post

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and the Obama Administration have been spying on the Associated Press without their knowledge.

The establishment news service is typically viewed as a repeater of officialdom, so it came as a bit of a shock to the organization who called it a "massive and unprecedented intrusion."

AP reports:

The Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press in what the news cooperative's top executive called a "massive and unprecedented intrusion" into how news organizations gather the news. 

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.

In all, the government seized those records for more than 20 separate telephone lines assigned to AP and its journalists in April and May of 2012. The exact number of journalists who used the phone lines during that period is unknown but more than 100 journalists work in the offices whose phone records were targeted on a wide array of stories about government and other matters.

The Associated Press recently received a letter from the Department of Justice informing them of the 2012 seizure of phone records. The AP points out that they're not sure if the phones were illegally wiretapped or if the phone companies turned over the records at the government's request.

The records were presumably obtained from phone companies earlier this year although the government letter did not explain that. None of the information provided by the government to the AP suggested the actual phone conversations were monitored.

Still the CEO, Gary Pruitt, feels his organization was violated.
"There can be no possible justification for such an overbroad collection of the telephone communications of The Associated Press and its reporters. These records potentially reveal communications with confidential sources across all of the newsgathering activities undertaken by the AP during a two-month period, provide a road map to AP's newsgathering operations, and disclose information about AP's activities and operations that the government has no conceivable right to know," Pruitt wrote in a response to Holder.

The AP writes that media companies are normally notified when the government wants phone records, and they usually comply.  But in this case the government waived the prior notification with cryptic reasoning that it may have "posed a substantial threat to the integrity of the investigation":

News organizations normally are notified in advance that the government wants phone records and enter into negotiations over the desired information. In this case, however, the government, in its letter to the AP, cited an exemption to those rules that holds that prior notification can be waived if such notice, in the exemption's wording, might "pose a substantial threat to the integrity of the investigation."

In other words, it seems like the AP is saying "you could have just asked and we probably would have given you what you needed."  Yet, the government is just saying "we'll do what we want, thanks."

Regardless, the AP has not seen a signed warrant or subpoena from the government, indicating that the DOJ was illegally spying on a major news organization. It appears no one is exempt from Big Brother's overreaches.

Read other articles by Activist Post Here 
Enter your email address to subscribe to our newsletter:


Delivered by FeedBurner

Be the Change! Share this using the tools below. Sharing on Reddit and Newsvine will help the most.

BATF Sent Guns to Terrorists: Will Obama AG be Held Accountable by Congress?

Jack Blood, Contributing Writer
Activist Post

The headline reads: “House Committee demands documents regarding Operation Fast and Furious.”

The buck does not stop with Obama and Holder though. Asked about prior knowledge of Operation Gun Runner / Fast and Furious . . . they just didn’t know what the hell was going on. Maybe this is true. Maybe they are way out of the loop, and this should concern not only every American, but citizens around the world!



Since Obama is nothing more than a figurehead, and a puppet for Global Intelligence (AKA the NWO) it is possible that he IS completely out of the loop. This is not the best 2012 campaign slogan however: “Vote for me, uhh, I have no clue what’s being done in my name”.

It makes one wonder what else is in the area of False Flag Terror (which this P2OG style “Sting Operation” truly is).

June Trial Looms As Obama DOJ Crusades Against Critics

Andrew Kreig
Op-Ed News

The Obama administration's shocking crackdown on government whistleblowers became more prominent this week with the New Yorker Magazine's publication of a hard-hitting article about the plight of former National Security Agency senior executive Thomas Drake. He faces a June 13 trial on charges of violating the Espionage Act, obstructing justice and lying to federal agents.

Update: CBS 60 Minutes broadcast a report May 22 by Scott Pelley, The Espionage Act: Why Tom Drake was indicted.

Drake's supporters raised his profile also May 18 by releasing a video of his acceptance speech for the annual Ridenhour "Truth-Telling Prize."  Drake is shown above receiving his award from a previous winner, Jesseyln Radack, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.

Drake's speech alleged that the Obama Justice Department is instilling fear amongst government employees who might consider informing the public about official waste and other misconduct, including criminal violations.

Inspector General Refuses to Investigate Bioweapons Cover-up

Janet C. Phelan, Contributing Writer
Activist Post

The Inspector General for the United States Department of Justice has declined to investigate false and misleading statements made by a DOJ employee concerning domestic legislation which appears to violate an international bioweapons treaty.

In a recent unsigned letter, issued on DOJ stationary, the IG's office refused to look into written statements made by Dean Boyd, Press officer for the DOJ, wherein he made an incorrect legal citation when asked to comment on the perception that Section 817 (The Expansion of the  Biological Weapons Statute) of the U.S. Patriot Act violates the International Bioweapons Convention (BWC). The BWC was signed by the U.S. in 1972 . Boyd was specifically asked to comment on 817, but denied the violation, instead referring this reporter to the law which 817 amended, which is 18 USC Section 175. When his error was pointed out, he shut down all communications with this reporter, writing: “We have nothing further for you.”

The Audacity of No Dope

Wiki Commons

Jack Evans 
The Intel Hub

If there was any question on President Obama’s policy towards State medical marijuana (MMJ) laws and patients rights who have signed up in fifteen states to legally obtain the necessary medicine to treat their medical needs from HIV, Cancer to chronic pain; the wait should be over and the jury of public opinion will be in shortly.

Since 2009 (MMJ) advocates were falling all over themselves in adulation when Attorney General Eric Holder issued the Ogden memorandum through Deputy Attorney General David W. Ogden to various State Federal prosecutors telling them to “…not focus federal resources in your States on individuals whose actions are in clear and unambiguous compliance with existing state laws providing for the medical use of marijuana.”

However in retrospect it is clear that such love for Obama’s policy was and continues to be misplaced.

Are Lehman's Auditors Above The Law?

Dees Illustration

Jeff McCord

Activist Post 

Many wonder why the Securities and Exchange Commission and U.S. Department of Justice are seemingly unable to prosecute Lehman Brothers and its auditor Ernst & Young for the massive over-valuations of the investment bank’s sub-prime mortgage-backed “assets” and other misleading (and, possibly, fraudulent) information published in financial statements in the years and quarters leading to the systemic financial meltdown that Lehman’s own bankruptcy helped fuel.  Are Lehman’s auditors above the law?  Regrettably, for a number of reasons, auditors are becoming increasingly immune from challenge by prosecutors, regulators and investors. 

The first reason is that money talks in Washington.  Although most citizens know of the overwhelming donations to federal political candidates by banks and other financial services firms, it may surprise some that accountants are also a very generous source of funding for both Republican and Democratic candidates.  In the election cycle of 2009-2010, alone, the “big four” accounting firms and their association contributed more than $8 million to federal candidates, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.  In the same period, fraud defendant Ernst & Young contributed in excess of $1.6 million to politicians. 

U.S. seeks to dismiss UBS criminal tax evasion case

Editor's Note: Once again, the real criminals get away with murder while average citizens will face jail time for minor tax evasion -- Justice in the land of the free.

Jonathan Stempel
Reuters

The U.S. Department of Justice is seeking to dismiss a criminal prosecution against UBS AG that led to the Swiss bank paying a $780 million penalty and admitting it helped wealthy U.S. clients evade taxes.

In a filing on Friday in the U.S. district court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, prosecutors said UBS has complied with an 18-month agreement to defer prosecution, after helping roughly 17,000 clients with $20 billion of assets hide their accounts from the Internal Revenue Service.

As part of the February 2009 settlement, Zurich-based UBS handed over names on more than 250 client accounts and ended its U.S. cross-border banking business.
It later revealed data on some 4,450 additional accounts and the government said UBS is continuing to cooperate.

"UBS AG has fully complied with all of its obligations," senior litigation counsel Kevin Downing wrote in the filing. "The United States believes that dismissal is appropriate."

The settlement is considered a landmark in cracking Switzerland's famed bank secrecy. Dismissal of the case requires court approval.

UBS spokeswoman Karina Byrne declined to comment.

"The UBS prosecution was historic and unique, and is a high point in government tax enforcement," said Peter Hardy, a partner at Post & Schell PC in Philadelphia and former prosecutor. "It has resulted in a systemic change in how Switzerland views foreigners holding assets in their banks."


Read Full Article

RELATED ARTICLE:
7 Mega-Cartels That Kill the Free Market and Our Sovereignty



Fresh food that lasts from eFoods Direct (Ad)

Live Superfoods It is time to Wake Up! You too, can join the "Global Political Awakening"!

Print this page

Task force probing whether banks broke federal laws during home seizures

Dees Illustration

Zachary A. Goldfarb
Washington Post

Federal law enforcement officials are investigating possible criminal violations in connection with the national foreclosure crisis, examining whether financial firms broke federal laws when they filed fraudulent court documents to seize people's homes, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Obama administration's Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force is in the early stages of an investigation into whether banks and other companies that submitted flawed paperwork in state foreclosure proceedings may also have misled federal housing agencies, which now own or insure a majority of home loans, according to these sources.

The task force, which includes investigators from the Justice Department, Department of Housing and Urban Development and other agencies, is also looking into whether the submission of flawed paperwork during the foreclosure process violated mail or wire fraud laws. Financial fraud cases often involve these statutes.

Read Full Article

STOP FORECLOSURE in TX, CA, or FLA

Fresh food that lasts from eFoods Direct (Ad)

Live Superfoods It is time to Wake Up! You too, can join the "Global Political Awakening"!

Print this page