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[IAmAnAgnostic]

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Friday that he's reviewing the Department of Justice's policy about issuing subpoenas to reporters in leak investigations
First Amendment to the US Constitution forbids government from infringing on freedom of the press

But Sessions hinted that he might force the issue as his department cracks down on government employees who leak classified information to the media
'We respect the important role that the press plays and will give them respect, but it is not unlimited,' he told a room full of reporters

http://thehill.com/homenews/adminis...-media-subpoenas-policy-in-crackdown-on-leaks

 

[nintendoman58]

Site's banned.

EDIT: Nvm.

 

[Jarmel]

Doesn't mean shit. Every major newspaper has a legal team on retainer.

 

[FunkyMunkey]

just amazing. this will backfire specactularly if it's a serious attempt and not just him tickling trumps asshole

 

[UberTag]

I suppose Priebus wasn't the leaker then.
They ought to bring the Mooch back to fire some more people. Then fire him again.

Spoiler

EVERYONE is leaking.

 

[IAmAnAgnostic]

Site's banned.

EDIT: Nvm.

Yeah, seemingly so. Found another source.

 

[Nappuccino]

But what if the source is Trump?

 

[Steel]

I suppose Priebus wasn't the leaker then.
They ought to bring the Mooch back to fire some more people. Then fire him again.

Spoiler

EVERYONE is leaking.

I'd be shocked if Sessions himself hasn't done a bit of leaking.

 

[Abstruse Moose]

"I don't recall."

 

[Doctor Bat]

*does a cross on my watergate bingo card*

 

[Arrogant Bastard]

I mean, unless it was classified information or obtained illegally, how can they actually do anything?

 

[PoorChoices]

Well, that's terrifying.

However, this might be the issue that unites everyone to say "HOLY SHIT THIS IS BAD". Also, the press might kick it into overdrive more so then they have previously. "Ink by the barrell" and the such.

 

[Jarmel]

I mean, unless it was classified information or obtained illegally, how can they actually do anything?

They can't.

 

[IAmAnAgnostic]

I mean, unless it was classified information or obtained illegally, how can they actually do anything?

The DOJ claim they were classified.

 

[zethren]

Lmao get fucked, seasons.

 

[Fantastical]

Well, that's terrifying.

However, this might be the issue that unites everyone to say "HOLY SHIT THIS IS BAD". Also, the press might kick it into overdrive more so then they have previously. "Ink by the barrell" and the such.

Trump's base hates the MSM.

 

[LiK]

Does he even know the law?

 

[kmax]

http://thehill.com/homenews/adminis...-media-subpoenas-policy-in-crackdown-on-leaks

You respect the media? How? By calling them fake news?

Get fucked, Sessions. I hope you get fired and indicted along with the rest of the criminals in office.

 

[Opto]

Does he even know the law?

None of this cabinet has any qualifications

 

[Cake Boss]

Sessions thinks he can treat the press like the way he treats black people.

 

[Steel]

I mean, unless it was classified information or obtained illegally, how can they actually do anything?

All they can do is fire people.

 

[Berordn]

Does he even know the law?

That's what we use to fund for-profit prisons via black youth, right?

Because he knows that very well.

 

[n00bsauce87]

Guess they realized going full Kentucky isn't the way. And you gotta hit up the rich if you wanna see some tax cuts

 

[Randolph Freelander]

Trump's base hates the MSM.

A fair portion of Trump's base would be perfectly content to watch the MSM get drawn and quartered on PPV.

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

Dangerous road to go down for the executive office or the DoJ re: the first amendment.

I still can't think of anything that has leaked thus far that was actually claimed to be classified by national security. Certainly not any of the Trump team convos under investigation last year.

 

[platocplx]

I hope the legal media attacks on sessions increase. He needs to stop fucking with the press for doing their jobs legally and by the book unlike him.

Free Press is needed even when we have state propaganda like Fox we have many more legit sources that keep these assholes in line.

 

[carlsojo]

This is a good strategy. It won't go anywhere, and it gets Trump off his back.

 

[Lunar15]

It wouldn't shock me if trump was accidentally leaking things.

 

[zelas]

Well, that's terrifying.

However, this might be the issue that unites everyone to say "HOLY SHIT THIS IS BAD". Also, the press might kick it into overdrive more so then they have previously. "Ink by the barrell" and the such.

Wont even come close to getting trump voters to turn on Trump. They dont have a problem with the law being broken if it benefits their beliefs.

 

[jelly]

"I don't recall."

😂

 

[Randolph Freelander]

It wouldn't shock me if trump was accidentally leaking things.

"accidentally"

 

[Gordon Shumway]

But what if the source is Trump?

Lock him up! Lock him up! Lock him up! Lock him up! Lock him up!

 

[Saint Gregory]

But what if the source is Trump?

You're probably joking but I've thought that was possible for a while now. He's so desperate for attention and can't keep his mouth shut, it wouldn't surprise me in the least bit.

 

[psynergylover]

"I don't recall."

HA!

 

[LiK]

"I don't recall."

I hope the reporters say this.

 

[Saganator]

A fair portion of Trump's base would be perfectly content to watch liberals get drawn and quartered on PPV.

Fixed

 

[Netherscourge]

Between Shield laws and the 1st Amendment, Sessions can go fuck off.

He will lose spectacularly.

I can't wait for a Judge to toss this case.

 

[Lord Fagan]

(spins head around room in confusion)

Well, I do declare, Mr. Sessions.

 

[D4Danger]

Thanks, Obama?

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/30/...ld-trump-targets-journalists-thank-obama.html

WASHINGTON — If Donald J. Trump decides as president to throw a whistle-blower in jail for trying to talk to a reporter, or gets the F.B.I. to spy on a journalist, he will have one man to thank for bequeathing him such expansive power: Barack Obama.

Mr. Trump made his animus toward the news media clear during the presidential campaign, often expressing his disgust with coverage through Twitter or in diatribes at rallies. So if his campaign is any guide, Mr. Trump seems likely to enthusiastically embrace the aggressive crackdown on journalists and whistle-blowers that is an important yet little understood component of Mr. Obama’s presidential legacy.

Criticism of Mr. Obama’s stance on press freedom, government transparency and secrecy is hotly disputed by the White House, but many journalism groups say the record is clear. Over the past eight years, the administration has prosecuted nine cases involving whistle-blowers and leakers, compared with only three by all previous administrations combined. It has repeatedly used the Espionage Act, a relic of World War I-era red-baiting, not to prosecute spies but to go after government officials who talked to journalists.

Under Mr. Obama, the Justice Department and the F.B.I. have spied on reporters by monitoring their phone records, labeled one journalist an unindicted co-conspirator in a criminal case for simply doing reporting and issued subpoenas to other reporters to try to force them to reveal their sources and testify in criminal cases.

I experienced this pressure firsthand when the administration tried to compel me to testify to reveal my confidential sources in a criminal leak investigation. The Justice Department finally relented — even though it had already won a seven-year court battle that went all the way to the Supreme Court to force me to testify — most likely because they feared the negative publicity that would come from sending a New York Times reporter to jail.

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

Also, wouldn't dragging any individual reporter into a courtroom validate everything they reported as truth? Despite what the president may believe, you can't be prosecuted for leaking bullshit.

 

[jiiikoo]

The US is slowly but surely turning into Russia.

 

[Tal Shiar Agent]

The DOJ claim they were classified.

Even if the info was classified they can't do shit. First Amendment protects journalists from revealing sources, even in criminal investigations.

 

[Link]

Literally an assault on the free press.

 

[BertramCooper]

Thanks, Obama?

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/30/...ld-trump-targets-journalists-thank-obama.html

.

This is one area in which President Obama - a president I still greatly admire and respect - should be properly excoriated.

The Obama administration's treatment of whistleblowers and the press was abhorrent, and set deeply disturbing precedents for the Trump administration to further exploit.

Suffice it to say that I can't help but roll my eyes any time the guys on Pod Save America rip on the Trump administration for their treatment of the press. Their hypocrisy in this specific area is pretty maddening.

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

Thanks, Obama?

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/30/...ld-trump-targets-journalists-thank-obama.html

Pretty damning, but even then the author admits (in the very last paragraph) that Obama-era prosecutions only extend to classified information. Anything beyond that is a reach.

The modern use of prosecution powers against the press came with the Valerie Plame exposure in the NYT during Bush 2, which most would agree was irresponsible reporting that did put lives in danger.

 

[To Far Away Times]

The Trump admin is scared shitless of the media.

 

[rjinaz]

So Sessions is all in on destroying Free Press. Cool cool, you sink with that ship too along with Trump, maybe some of your Republican friends will join you also in your crusade for fascism.

 

[BoboBrazil]

Never forget Sessions was also in the Trump campaign and had meeting with Russians. He's not innocent.

 

[rjinaz]

Never forget Sessions was also in the Trump campaign and had meeting with Russians. He's not innocent.

True. You'd think he'd tell Trump to fuck off now though seeing as how he keeps bad mouthing him.

 

[ascii42]

Also, wouldn't dragging any individual reporter into a courtroom validate everything they reported as truth? Despite what the president may believe, you can't be prosecuted for leaking bullshit.

Wouldn't libel laws apply?