Attorney General Eric Holder was given a tight deadline on Tuesday to make a decision whether to move forward with the longstanding subpoena of New York Times reporter James Risen.
As Politico reported, U.S. District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema gave the Justice Department until next Tuesday “to commit to a position on whether it will be seeking Mr. Risen’s testimony” in the trial of former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling.
Prosecutors allege that Sterling provided Risen with classified information that the reporter used in his 2006 book.
The Bush administration subpoenaed Risen in 2008 to identify a source who gave the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist information about a botched U.S. effort to damage Iran’s nuclear program. Risen detailed the operation in his book, “State of War,” after the Times passed on the story.
The newspaper’s former executive editor, Jill Abramson, said in October that she regrets her decision not to run Risen’s reporting.
Holder has vowed that no reporter will go to jail as long as he’s attorney general, and in September he said he would not seek jail time for Risen.
Nevertheless, Risen, who has repeatedly said he will not identify his sources, has been kept waiting. The Supreme Court rejected his petition in June to protect his sources.
To that end, Brinkema said it’s time for the DOJ to make a decision.
“Since June 2,2014, the United States has had over six months to decide whether it will subpoena James Risen to testify at this trial,” Brinkema wrote in her order.
Risen has been extremely critical of the current administration. Earlier this year, he described President Obama as “the greatest enemy of press freedom in a generation.”
“the greatest enemy of press freedom in a generation.”
I’m afraid it’s the new normal and it’s more a product of the technology and the times we’re living in than any personality flaw Obama might possess. I saw him on The Daily Show and thought Jon Stewart tried to draw him into a larger discussion when he asked “who get’s to make the decision” about what should remain secret but Risen couldn’t separate his personal circumstances from the question.
I thought the penultimate episode of The Newsroom was allegorical when the libertarian minded tech billionaire Lucas Pruitt literally killed the old school newsman Charlie Skinner.
We live in interesting times.
Of course. He’ll hand that off to the next guy.
Such wonderful half-truths.
I am wondering where the "half truth " is here? Holder said he will not jail a journalist and that does not set well with your cynicism posing as wisdom act. So you just make up shit and say, although he has never said, that he will hand the jailing off to the next AG. You have no idea if he will…its just a thought that fits comfortably in your belief system. Like I said in the beginning…where is the half truth? The full blown bunks location is obvious.
Drop the subpoena. Don’t subpoena any journalist EVER. You can talk to them but not under subpoena duress.
It’s time to put all this shit to rest. If a journalist can get the information and your agency cannot…that’s a fault of your agency. Our founders laid out the plan journalists and it was never intended they flatter or team up with government folks. That’s why they call them the “4th Estate” and not the 3rd estate subsection B.
It would be best to go 100 % on this one. If its a journo doing a journo thing…no matter ow much you disagree with that journo thing…let it be. That’s American or it should be.
Seriously?
Just like when Obama famously said “Nobody is listening to your calls” ( Of course not…that’s what computers are for!)