FBI Broke Law At Reporters Expense

August 9. 2008

FBI director Robert Mueller. Yea, you need to be praying. You're gonna need Jesus when ALL your dirt comes out.

Just when you thought this week of terrible revelations about FBI headquarters couldn’t get any worse, it does. Now comes news that they illegally spied on reporters from the New York Times, the president’s least favorite newspaper, and the Washington Post, a publication that is sometimes critical of him and the FBI.

The FBI, in criminal violation of the First Amendment, unlawfully obtained the phone records of reporters from said papers, when the law requires, “The approval of the deputy attorney general” to do so. Robert Mueller has violated many laws, including the Patriot Act, at the request of the president, who he meets with weekly.

Just last month, on FBI headquarters main website, they were running their mouths regarding "debunking myths" one of which is they don't spy on American citizens. But bam, here it is again, they did.

Once again, the George W. Bush presidency hits another disgraceful low, via this arrogant attitude of “I’m the president so I can do what I want.”

You know what’s even worse about this latest incident, it is not even the tip of the iceberg regarding the illegal things FBI headquarters has been doing. Future revelations will shock and sicken you. Give it time.

Once again, the FBI needs to be closed, its headquarters fired and shuttered, and the FBI agents from the field offices, used to create a new federal law enforcement agency, utilizing a different system, as the current one is going to lead to a terrible disaster.

F.B.I. Says It Obtained Reporters’ Phone Records

Published: August 8, 2008 - WASHINGTON — The Federal Bureau of Investigation said Friday that it had improperly obtained the phone records of reporters for The New York Times and The Washington Post in the newspapers’ Indonesia bureaus in 2004.

Robert S. Mueller III, director of the F.B.I., disclosed the episode in a phone call to Bill Keller, the executive editor of The Times, and apologized for it. He also spoke with Leonard Downie Jr., the executive editor of The Washington Post, to apologize.

F.B.I. officials said the incident came to light as part of the continuing review by the Justice Department inspector general’s office into the bureau’s improper collection of telephone records through “emergency” records demands issued to phone providers.

The records were apparently sought as part of a terrorism investigation, but the F.B.I. did not explain what was being investigated or why the reporters’ phone records were considered relevant.

The Justice Department places a high bar on the collection of reporters’ records in investigations because of First Amendment concerns, and obtaining such records requires the approval of the deputy attorney general. That requirement was not followed when the F.B.I. obtained the records of two reporters for The Times in Indonesia, Raymond Bonner and Jane Perlez, as well as two reporters there for The Post, Ellen Nakashima and Natasha Tampubolon, officials said.

http://www.nytimes.com