Unprecedented Seizure of AP Journalist Records Related to al Qaeda Investigation

[one_half]The AP scandal – in which The Justice Department secretly obtained two months worth of telephone records of journalists working for AP– seems to be part of an extensive investigation into a leak of classified information about a failed al-Qaeda plot.   Attorney General Holder – who recused himself from the investigation – said yesterday that “this was a very serious leak — a very, very serious leak.”

He added that since he became a prosecutor in 1976, “this is among the top two or three serious leaks that I’ve ever seen.” Holder also said that “it put the American people at risk” and that “trying to determine who was responsible for that required very aggressive action.” Holder went onto say that he was ‘confident that the people who are involved in this investigation … followed all of the appropriate Justice Department regulations and did things according to DOJ rules.”

News agencies are understandably upset with AP President and Chief Executive Officer Gary B. Pruitt calling The Justic e Department’s actions a “massive and unprecedented intrusion” into newsgathering activities.[/one_half]

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