James Rosen Case: DOJ Targeting More Fox News Reporters

Impact

If only Olivia Pope were not a fictional television show character … I’m sure that she and her team of “gladiators in suits” would have been sitting in the oval office for these past couple of weeks. It looks like they will need her even more after today. 

Reports have surfaced that not just one but three Fox news employees have been targeted by the department of justice. Fox News’ Megyn Kelly reported that it was not just James Rosen that the Obama administration’s DOJ targeted, but also William La Jeunesse and Producer Mike Levine. No notice was given to either the reporters or Fox news prior to the warrants.

In the affidavit filed by FBI agent Reginald Reyes, Rosen had broken the law, “at the very least, either as an aider, abettor and/or co-conspirator.” The report also revealed that Rosen’s movements were also tracked.

This news come after the DOJ also tapped the phone lines used by over 20 AP reporters. Now it is evident that both the Associated Press and Fox News have been the target of these DOJ searches.

All three Fox News employees say the government never contacted them. According to Kelly, the typical process for such a warrant involves an attorney representing the agency that employs the reporter — in these cases, Fox News. However, these requests went without any legal representative working on behalf of the reporters and thus the scope of the warrant was not limited in the way that it typically would be.

I think that my tin foil hat just became a rather prized permanent addition to my daily wardrobe. I’ll go ahead and make sure to leave it on for a while.

Congratulations, Obama administration, you have officially shown that these frighteningly big-brotherish cronies within your administration not only are willing to go after our Constitutionally protected free press, but they are able to do so despite the so called privacy of the public and openness of government that you so fervently campaigned on.

Remember what you told us, Mr. President ...

“Americans fought a revolution in part over the right to be free from unreasonable searches, to ensure that our government couldn’t come knocking in the middle of the night for no reason. We need to find a way forward to make sure that we [stop] terrorists while protecting the privacy and liberty of innocent Americans.”

“In His Own Words,” edited by Lisa Rogak, p.132 , Mar 27, 2007