U.S. Justice Dept says it will no longer seize reporters' records in
leak investigations
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[June 07, 2021]
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Department
of Justice said on Saturday that it would no longer seek source
information from reporters in leak investigations after recent
revelations that former President Donald Trump's administration had
secretly obtained phone and email records from a number of journalists.
CNN and the Washington Post have said the Trump administration had
secretly tried to obtain the phone records of some of their reporters
over work they did in 2017.
The New York Times reported that the Justice Department under presidents
Trump and Joe Biden waged "a secret legal battle to obtain the email
logs of four New York Times reporters," and imposed a gag order on
executives.
Last month, Biden said he would not allow his Justice Department to
seize the phone or email records of reporters, saying any such move
would be "simply wrong."
"DOJ has now completed a review to determine all instances in which the
Department had pending compulsory requests from reporters in leak
investigations," Justice Department spokesman Anthony Coley said in a
statement.
"Going forward, consistent with the President’s direction, this
Department of Justice - in a change to its longstanding practice - will
not seek compulsory legal process in leak investigations to obtain
source information from members of the news media doing their jobs,"
Coley added.
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The crest of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) is seen
at their headquarters in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 10, 2021.
REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo
In a statement, the White House said that issuing
subpoenas for reporters' records in leak investigations is not
consistent with Biden administration policy.
"The Department of Justice has reconfirmed it will not be used
moving forward," White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
Trump had a contentious relationship with the press, often publicly
lambasting reporters and their outlets as "fake news."
(Reporting by Idrees AliEditing by Bill Berkrot and Sonya Hepinstall)
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