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Trump's targeting of a New York Times journalist, explained by experts
The Trump administration took its war with the media to the next level this week when federal authorities seized years of phone records from New York Times reporter Ali Watkins as part of a federal investigation into leaks of classified information.
Watkins, who previously worked for BuzzFeed News and Politico, had a three-year relationship with James Wolfe, a former Senate Intelligence Committee aide who was arrested on Thursday and charged with lying to federal agents investigating the classified leaks.
The seizure set off alarm bells about the relationship between the administration and the media. The Department of Justice under Obama took phone records from Associated Press reporters and editors, named a Fox News reporter an unindicted "co-conspirator" in a leak case, and prosecuted multiple cases involving whistleblowers and leakers. So is what Trump doing more of the same? Or is a president who routinely bashes the media and threatens to jail leakers finally turning his rhetoric into reality?
"It's deeply alarming that the Trump administration has decided to build off of the worst of the Obama legacy on leak investigations and reporter-source protection," said Alexandra Ellerbeck, the North America program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Also at The Philadelphia Inquirer, Emptywheel, and Fox News.
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(Score: -1, Flamebait) by jmorris on Friday June 15 2018, @08:44PM (2 children)
Ok, so yesterday media corporations like Twitter could censor all they want. Now the NYT, also a private corporation, is asserting it is above the law because sacred fourth branch of government or some insane bullcrap?
One the one hand you morons shout "Russia!, Russia!, Russia!" after two years looking for some evidence that wasn't ghost written by the Democratic Party and then scream when a real counter intelligence investigation turns up actual treason. Pro Tip: when you are fucking a traitor to milk classified info out of him for your political faction, don't expect a press badge to be a "get out of jail free" card. Since the NYT has admitted it knew what she was doing it would be entirely reasonable to RICO the whole damned thing and liquidate it at a government auction. You can be thankful President Trump is more merciful than I would be.
To a less observant person you Progs would merely appear inconsistent. I know better. You are utterly consistent. You do not believe any of the crap that pours from your lieholes, you do not believe in America, it's Constitutional Republican form of governement or any of it. You are more than willing to employ rhetoric based on those things when it advances your cause, but your cause is antithetical to those things.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 16 2018, @02:37AM (1 child)
Stop, jmorris! We have already established that it is illegal for you to "spank off".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 16 2018, @08:24AM
I can't bear to look. Is he still doing it?