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The Obama administration woke up on Tuesday to another morning of scorching criticism about the Justice Department's decision to secretly obtain months of Associated Press phone records.
The DOJ tracked the incoming and outgoing calls on more than 20 AP phone lines, as well as the home, office and cell phone lines for six individual journalists involved in writing a national security-related story about Yemen that the Obama administration did not want them to write.
The operation has been roundly condemned by journalists and press freedom groups. That condemnation continued on Monday night and Tuesday morning.
Reporters Without Borders called the probe an "extremely grave violation of freedom of information.”
NBC News' Michael Isikoff quoted a whistleblower advocate who made the dreaded comparison to Richard Nixon:
"It is not unprecedented for the Justice Department to secretly get the numbers of reporters," he said. "What's remarkable is the sweeping nature of this, the dragnet approach ... and that's why you have some press watchdog groups tonight, and freedom of the press groups saying this is positively Nixonian. They have not seen a precedent for this in decades."
The DOJ tracked the incoming and outgoing calls on more than 20 AP phone lines, as well as the home, office and cell phone lines for six individual journalists involved in writing a national security-related story about Yemen that the Obama administration did not want them to write.
The operation has been roundly condemned by journalists and press freedom groups. That condemnation continued on Monday night and Tuesday morning.
Reporters Without Borders called the probe an "extremely grave violation of freedom of information.”
NBC News' Michael Isikoff quoted a whistleblower advocate who made the dreaded comparison to Richard Nixon:
"The Justice Department’s seizure of the Associated Press’ phone records is Nixonian," said Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight, a group that advocates on behalf of whistleblowers. "The American public deserves a full accounting of why and how this could happen."
Speaking to Rachel Maddow on Tuesday night, Isikoff explained further why people were so alarmed."It is not unprecedented for the Justice Department to secretly get the numbers of reporters," he said. "What's remarkable is the sweeping nature of this, the dragnet approach ... and that's why you have some press watchdog groups tonight, and freedom of the press groups saying this is positively Nixonian. They have not seen a precedent for this in decades."
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