{"id":28436,"date":"2017-11-30T06:48:15","date_gmt":"2017-11-30T11:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=28436"},"modified":"2017-11-30T06:57:01","modified_gmt":"2017-11-30T11:57:01","slug":"has-trump-made-it-easier-to-spy-on-journalists-lawsuit-demands-answers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=28436","title":{"rendered":"Has Trump Made It Easier to Spy on Journalists? Lawsuit Demands Answers."},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"Post-header\" data-reactid=\".ti.1.0.0\">\n<div class=\"Post-image-block\" data-reactid=\".ti.1.0.0.1\">\n<div class=\"ResponsiveImage Post-image\" data-reactid=\".ti.1.0.0.1.0\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"ResponsiveImage-image\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn01.theintercept.com\/wp-uploads\/sites\/1\/2017\/11\/journalists-jeff-sessions-leaks-lawsuit-1511993045-article-header.jpg\" alt=\"National Counterintelligence and Security Center Director William Evanina (2ndR), US Attorney General Jeff Sessions (R) and bodyguards stand at the Department of Justice during an announcement about leaking of classified information on August 4, 2017 in Washington, DC.US Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Friday condemned the 'staggering number' of leaks emanating from President Donald Trump's administration, as he vowed a crackdown on people revealing classified or sensitive national security information. \/ AFP PHOTO \/ Brendan Smialowski (Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI\/AFP\/Getty Images)\" width=\"1440\" height=\"720\" data-reactid=\".ti.1.0.0.1.0.0\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"Post-header-grid\" data-reactid=\".ti.1.0.0.2\">\n<div class=\"Post-header-row\" data-reactid=\".ti.1.0.0.2.0\">\n<div class=\"PostSocial\" data-reactid=\".ti.1.0.0.2.0.0\">\n<div class=\"Post-social-container\" data-reactid=\".ti.1.0.0.2.0.0.0\">\n<div class=\"Post-social\" data-reactid=\".ti.1.0.0.2.0.0.0.0\">\n<div class=\"Post-social-grid\" data-reactid=\".ti.1.0.0.2.0.0.0.0.0\">\n<div class=\"Post-social-row\" data-reactid=\".ti.1.0.0.2.0.0.0.0.0.0\">\n<div class=\"Post-social-block\" data-reactid=\".ti.1.0.0.2.0.0.0.0.0.0.0\">\n<div class=\"Post-social-inner-block\" data-reactid=\".ti.1.0.0.2.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0\">\n<div class=\"Post-social-link-block\" data-reactid=\".ti.1.0.0.2.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.$facebook\">Photo: Brendan Smialowski\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"Post-header-block\" data-reactid=\".ti.1.0.0.2.0.1\">\n<div data-reactid=\".ti.1.0.0.2.0.1.0\">\n<div class=\"Post-title-block\" data-reactid=\".ti.1.0.0.2.0.1.0.1\">\n<h3 class=\"Post-title\" data-reactid=\".ti.1.0.0.2.0.1.0.1.0\"><a class=\"Post-title-link\" href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2017\/11\/29\/trumps-rules-for-spying-on-journalists-sought-in-federal-lawsuit\/\" data-reactid=\".ti.1.0.0.2.0.1.0.1.0.0\">HAS TRUMP MADE IT EASIER TO SPY ON JOURNALISTS? LAWSUIT DEMANDS ANSWERS.<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"Post-body\" data-reactid=\".ti.1.0.1\">\n<div class=\"Post-content-block-outer\" data-reactid=\".ti.1.0.1.2\">\n<div class=\"GridContainer Post-scroll-container\" data-reactid=\".ti.1.0.1.2.0\">\n<div class=\"GridRow\" data-reactid=\".ti.1.0.1.2.0.0\">\n<div class=\"Post-content-block\" data-reactid=\".ti.1.0.1.2.0.0.1\">\n<div class=\"Post-content-block-inner\" data-reactid=\".ti.1.0.1.2.0.0.1.0\">\n<div class=\"PostContent\" data-reactid=\".ti.1.0.1.2.0.0.1.0.4\">\n<div data-reactid=\".ti.1.0.1.2.0.0.1.0.4.$p-0\">\n<p><u>PRESS FREEDOM GROUPS<\/u> filed suit today to force the government to disclose more about how and when it obtains journalists\u2019 communications, amid reports that the Department of Justice under Attorney General Jeff Sessions is pursuing a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/leak-investigations-rise-800-under-jeff-sessions\">record number<\/a> of leak investigations.<\/p>\n<p>The question the groups hope to answer is whether the Trump administration \u2014 openly hostile toward news media \u2014 has jettisoned or modified rules that limit the government\u2019s ability to spy on journalists while they do their jobs.<\/p>\n<p>Those rules were <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2013\/07\/13\/us\/holder-to-tighten-rules-for-obtaining-reporters-data.html?pagewanted=all&amp;_r=0\">made more stringent<\/a> by former President Barack Obama\u2019s attorney general Eric Holder in 2014, after outcry when it was revealed that the administration had secretly obtained call records from the Associated Press and <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2015\/02\/18\/destroyed-by-the-espionage-act\/\">surveilled<\/a> a Fox News reporter, naming him a co-conspirator in a national security leak case. Holder pledged that his department would go after journalists\u2019 records in criminal cases only as a \u201clast resort.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Carrie DeCell, a staff attorney with Knight First Amendment Institute, which is <a href=\"https:\/\/knightcolumbia.org\/news\/lawsuit-seeks-government-guidelines-surveillance-journalists-leak-investigations-surge\">bringing the suit<\/a> along with the Freedom of the Press Foundation, said that \u201cwe have seen the DOJ media guidelines that Obama released, but we understand that Sessions is reconsidering those guidelines, and the way the government uses subpoenas against journalists.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In August, Sessions <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2017\/08\/04\/jeff-sessions-promises-to-crack-down-on-leaks-threatening-to-subpoena-reporters\/\">announced<\/a> that his department was reviewing the guidelines as part of a crackdown on leaks but did not specify what changes might be made. Sessions also told Congress this month that he has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/leak-investigations-rise-800-under-jeff-sessions\">27 investigations<\/a> open into leaks of classified information to reporters \u2013 compared to just three last year. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/06\/09\/us\/politics\/trump-comey-leak.html?action=click&amp;contentCollection=Politics&amp;module=RelatedCoverage&amp;region=Marginalia&amp;pgtype=article&amp;mtrref=www.nytimes.com\">Not all leaks are illegal<\/a>, and many of the disclosures that Trump has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/post-politics\/wp\/2017\/07\/22\/trump-denounces-illegal-leaks-in-new-accounts-of-his-campaigns-contact-with-russia\/?utm_term=.6887e78c62be\">publicly<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.slate.com\/blogs\/the_slatest\/2017\/06\/08\/trump_s_lawyer_suggests_james_comey_broke_the_law_he_didn_t.html\">complained<\/a> about would likely not be considered criminal.)<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;click on the above link to read the rest of the article&#8230;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Photo: Brendan Smialowski\/AFP\/Getty Images HAS TRUMP MADE IT EASIER TO SPY ON JOURNALISTS? LAWSUIT DEMANDS ANSWERS. PRESS FREEDOM GROUPS filed suit today to force the government to disclose more about how and when it obtains journalists\u2019 communications, amid reports that the Department of Justice under Attorney General Jeff Sessions is pursuing a record number of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[13373,3306,17284,7844,3671,3230,336,2324,746,5567,827],"class_list":["post-28436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-liberty","tag-associated-press","tag-barack-obama","tag-cora-currier","tag-donald-trump","tag-eric-holder","tag-fox-news","tag-free-press","tag-journalists","tag-spying","tag-the-intercept","tag-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28436"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28436\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28437,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28436\/revisions\/28437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}