berg80
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- Oct 28, 2017
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This isn’t the first time that the federal government has shown less respect than states have for the work journalists do. During the Obama administration, the Justice Department, in an effort to identify the source of leaks, subpoenaed call logs from The Associated Press and obtained a search warrant to examine the emails of a Fox News reporter. In response to criticism at the time, Attorney General Eric Holder narrowed the circumstances in which the Justice Department would seek information from reporters. Under President Joe Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland tightened the restrictions on prosecutors even further.
But early in the second Trump administration, the Justice Department overturned the Garland guidance; a new regulation introduced by Attorney General Pam Bondi in April 2025 eased the rules on subpoenas and search warrants for reporters.
President Trump’s hostility to journalists — whom he often calls “treasonous” and “enemies of the people” — is a long-established matter. In 2006, Mr. Trump sued his biographer Timothy O’Brien for allegedly understating his wealth; the case was dismissed. In later years, he filed more defamation cases, including more than one against The Times, but he’s never won one in court. Instead, since being re-elected, he’s used his powers as president to extort multimillion-dollar settlements from ABC and CBS’s parent company for cases that would never have stood up in court. Deploying the criminal justice system against journalists is a graver step in the same direction.
www.nytimes.com
The two previous admin's worked to accommodate the 1st A rights of journalists in the course of their reporting.
A White House spokesman said that President Obama supported the Justice Department’s changes as well as its call, at the end of a report on the revisions, to more often find ways other than criminal investigations to deal with leaks of classified information.
www.nytimes.com
Why it matters: The new policy follows disclosures that the DOJ, under the Trump administration, secretly obtained records of several journalists, including one at CNN, three at the Washington Post and four from the New York Times. In May, President Biden said he wouldn't allow the Justice Department to seize journalists' email or phone records.
The big picture: The new policy aims to resolve the issue of Justice Department prosecutors trying to weigh the media's First Amendment rights against the government's desire to protect classified information, the Associated Press notes.
trump, unsurprisingly given his animosity towards the press, has gone in the opposite direction.
Mr. Trump does not attempt to hide his use of law enforcement powers for vengeance. He glories in it. Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported, he hosted federal prosecutors at the White House and complained that they were not moving fast enough to punish the rivals, critics and truth tellers he wished to target. This followed months of pressure by the president on his attorney general to do more to prosecute those who oppose his actions and those who tried to hold him accountable under the law in the past.
www.nytimes.com
When order is restored in 2029 these kinds of policy changes will be repealed. As will untold things trump has done to an America still reeling from a fire hose of damage he has wrought. So much so one wonders if the country will ever fully recover. It may, for example, take more than a generation to restore faith in the integrity of elections. The accuracy of which has never been credibly challenged.
But early in the second Trump administration, the Justice Department overturned the Garland guidance; a new regulation introduced by Attorney General Pam Bondi in April 2025 eased the rules on subpoenas and search warrants for reporters.
President Trump’s hostility to journalists — whom he often calls “treasonous” and “enemies of the people” — is a long-established matter. In 2006, Mr. Trump sued his biographer Timothy O’Brien for allegedly understating his wealth; the case was dismissed. In later years, he filed more defamation cases, including more than one against The Times, but he’s never won one in court. Instead, since being re-elected, he’s used his powers as president to extort multimillion-dollar settlements from ABC and CBS’s parent company for cases that would never have stood up in court. Deploying the criminal justice system against journalists is a graver step in the same direction.
Opinion | Trump Is Turning Journalists Into Criminals
The product of journalism enjoys substantial protection under the First Amendment. But what about the process?
www.nytimes.com
The two previous admin's worked to accommodate the 1st A rights of journalists in the course of their reporting.
Holder Tightens Rules on Getting Reporters’ Data
WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., who has been criticized for the Justice Department’s aggressive tactics in secretly obtaining phone logs and e-mails of reporters as part of leak investigations, announced new guidelines on Friday that would significantly narrow the circumstances under which journalists’ records could be obtained.A White House spokesman said that President Obama supported the Justice Department’s changes as well as its call, at the end of a report on the revisions, to more often find ways other than criminal investigations to deal with leaks of classified information.
Holder Tightens Rules on Getting Reporters’ Data (Published 2013)
The new guidelines announced by Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. would make it harder for prosecutors to obtain calling records from telephone companies without giving news organizations notice.
www.nytimes.com
DOJ limits federal prosecutors from seizing reporters' records
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced new guidelines Monday limiting Justice Department and FBI investigators from seizing materials from reporters and news outlets except in extreme cases.Why it matters: The new policy follows disclosures that the DOJ, under the Trump administration, secretly obtained records of several journalists, including one at CNN, three at the Washington Post and four from the New York Times. In May, President Biden said he wouldn't allow the Justice Department to seize journalists' email or phone records.
The big picture: The new policy aims to resolve the issue of Justice Department prosecutors trying to weigh the media's First Amendment rights against the government's desire to protect classified information, the Associated Press notes.
trump, unsurprisingly given his animosity towards the press, has gone in the opposite direction.
For Trump, Justice Means Vengeance
President Trump is celebrating the anniversary of his return to power by accelerating his attack on the rule of law. He has spent the week leading up to Jan. 20 using the mighty powers of the Justice Department as an extension of his personal and political interests. The department has started a fabricated criminal investigation of the Federal Reserve chair, searched the home of a Washington Post reporter and created a White House-controlled fraud unit that would streamline partisan prosecution.Mr. Trump does not attempt to hide his use of law enforcement powers for vengeance. He glories in it. Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported, he hosted federal prosecutors at the White House and complained that they were not moving fast enough to punish the rivals, critics and truth tellers he wished to target. This followed months of pressure by the president on his attorney general to do more to prosecute those who oppose his actions and those who tried to hold him accountable under the law in the past.
Opinion | For Trump, Justice Means Vengeance
One year into the president’s second term, America risks losing a central feature of our democracy: that we are a country ruled by laws, not by the whims of one man.
www.nytimes.com
When order is restored in 2029 these kinds of policy changes will be repealed. As will untold things trump has done to an America still reeling from a fire hose of damage he has wrought. So much so one wonders if the country will ever fully recover. It may, for example, take more than a generation to restore faith in the integrity of elections. The accuracy of which has never been credibly challenged.
from our obsessive TDS patient.
