Chilling report: Obama's DOJ spied on Fox News' James Rosen; Criminalizes reporting; Update: Fox issues statement

When you’ve lost Glenn Greenwald …

“Getting a lot more dangerous," @ggreenwald on Obama Admin pursuing journalists http://t.co/FwizCdnGZN

— Mike Finnerty (@finnertymike) May 20, 2013

Dangerous indeed. And beyond chilling.

https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/336461762830413824

https://twitter.com/erikj03/status/336455781513834496

We won’t hold our breath.

Really interesting story in the WashPost today about another leak probe http://t.co/PjEMoAgVxc

— Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree) May 20, 2013

WTF? RT @BrianWilsonDC: Another case of reporter being tracked — this time from Fox news. http://t.co/NmPlVJQBVy

— RBe (@RBPundit) May 20, 2013

That’s right: The Department of Justice probed and tracked Fox News’ James Rosen.

https://twitter.com/MeanMrPete/status/336468006622334976

For reporting.

Here's the @JamesRosenFNC story from June 2009 that's at center of leak case: http://t.co/1EaP5Nrdcd

— Michael Calderone (@mlcalderone) May 20, 2013

WP piece about another DOJ leak investigation is absolute must-read: http://t.co/dRUib4rXYn Tactics used against Fox's Rosen are outrageous.

— Ryan Lizza (@RyanLizza) May 20, 2013

In this instance, they didn’t just obtain phone records, which is bad enough.

@JamesRosenFNC DOJ story not just AP reports this am our reporter was also tracked for a story he did on NK – @brithume coming up!

— Martha MacCallum (@marthamaccallum) May 20, 2013

#Obama administration tracked FOX News reporter via key card and seized personal emails. #Chilling @ap @JoeNBC http://t.co/wbmSG8u6u7

— Ron Fournier (@ron_fournier) May 20, 2013

They used security badge access records to track the reporter’s comings and goings from the State Department, according to a newly obtained court affidavit. They traced the timing of his calls with a State Department security adviser suspected of sharing the classified report. They obtained a search warrant for the reporter’s personal e-mails.

The case of Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, the government adviser, and James Rosen, the chief Washington correspondent for Fox News, bears striking similarities to a sweeping leaks investigation disclosed last week in which federal investigators obtained records over two months of more than 20 telephone lines assigned to the Associated Press.

WaPo totally played down the fact the DOJ dug into Rosen's emails. But that's why the Good Lord invented New Media.

— Burn, Democrat-Run Cities, Burn! (@NolteNC) May 20, 2013

WaPo may have tried to play that down, but others will not.

Justice Dept. Tracked Fox News Reporter James Rosen's Movements, Obtained His Personal Emails http://t.co/sMXVCX0rXm

— Mediaite (@Mediaite) May 20, 2013

Big -> MT @ggreenwald Yep MT @RyanLizza "Case against Fox's Rosen …O admin criminalizing reporting, makes other "scandals" nothing."

— Burn, Democrat-Run Cities, Burn! (@NolteNC) May 20, 2013

Glenn Greenwald has more in his article at The Guardian:

New revelations emerged yesterday in the Washington Post that are perhaps the most extreme yet when it comes to the DOJ’s attacks on press freedoms. It involves the prosecution of State Department adviser Stephen Kim, a naturalized citizen from South Korea who was indicted in 2009 for allegedly telling Fox News’ chief Washington correspondent, James Rosen, that US intelligence believed North Korea would respond to additional UN sanctions with more nuclear tests – something Rosen then reported. Kim did not obtain unauthorized access to classified information, nor steal documents, nor sell secrets, nor pass them to an enemy of the US. Instead, the DOJ alleges that he merely communicated this innocuous information to a journalist – something done every day in Washington – and, for that, this arms expert and long-time government employee faces more than a decade in prison for “espionage”.

The focus of the Post’s report yesterday is that the DOJ’s surveillance of Rosen, the reporter, extended far beyond even what they did to AP reporters. The FBI tracked Rosen’s movements in and out of the State Department, traced the timing of his calls, and – most amazingly – obtained a search warrant to read two days worth of his emails, as well as all of his emails with Kim. In this case, said the Post, “investigators did more than obtain telephone records of a working journalist suspected of receiving the secret material.” It added that “court documents in the Kim case reveal how deeply investigators explored the private communications of a working journalist”.

Unbelievable. To put the icing on the disturbing cake, the DOJ accused Rosen of committing crimes in order to obtain the warrants. The crime of doing his job.

The Obama admin has accused Fox News of breaking the law in the course of doing routine reporting http://t.co/dRUib4rXYn

— Ryan Lizza (@RyanLizza) May 20, 2013

https://twitter.com/AlexPappas/status/336456360755613696

Seriously.

https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/336465422331305985

Citizens are rightly outraged.

https://twitter.com/JayCaruso/status/336315109276266496

https://twitter.com/Safety_Pants/status/336462536138448897

IRS targeting Tea Party, DOJ targeting Fox News…. #Toxic

— Burn, Democrat-Run Cities, Burn! (@NolteNC) May 20, 2013

Obama's DOJ also spied on Fox reporter James Rosen in a development that would make Hugo Chavez blush. http://t.co/BhlqUN9jhc

— Razor (@hale_razor) May 20, 2013

Forward! Into thuggery.

What say you, President Obama?

https://twitter.com/RightWingNerd/status/336468100574765056

Update: Fox issues a hell of a statement.