AP Responds to Shocking Seizure of Phone Records by DOJ

UPDATE  Good Facebook quote from Will Bunch on this:  "America's state of perpetual war has driven our leaders -- from Nixon to, yes, Barack Obama -- batty, and that has caused our government to go too far, again and again, against a free press and against whistleblowers. News that the Justice Department went after the AP's phone records is very upsetting, but maybe this time it will lead to real change, including finally declaring an end to our neverending war against terrorism.

Earlier:  AP just posted at their site, plus story:

The U.S. Department of Justice notified The Associated Press on Friday, May 10, that it had secretly obtained telephone records for more than 20 separate telephone lines assigned to AP journalists and offices, including cell and home phone lines.  AP is asking the DOJ for an immediate explanation of the extraordinary action and for the records to be returned to AP and all copies destroyed. AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt protested the massive intrusion into AP’s newsgathering activities in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday, May 13.

In the letter Pruitt states:

“There can be no possible justification for such an overbroad collection of the telephone communications of The Associated Press and its reporters. These records potentially reveal communications with confidential sources across all of the newsgathering activities undertaken by the AP during a two-month period, provide a road map to AP’s newsgathering operations, and disclose information about AP’s activities and operations that the government has no conceivable right to know.”

“We regard this action by the Department of Justice as a serious interference with AP’s constitutional rights to gather and report the news.”