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In "Secret" Meeting, Eric Holder Tells Media He Will Stop Spying On It

Tyler Durden's picture




 

The US Attorney General's New Normal Watergate fiasco gets more surreal by the day.

Eric Holder, currently being investigated for lying under oath, has been in hot water ever since the break of the AP scandal. But it has been his "handling" of the spillover that has raised eyebrows. The latest update is sure to raise them even more. Because it turns out that during Thursday's "off the record" meeting which the majority of the press boycotted for the simple reason that the reporting press probably can't go off the record when the topic is the US government's precedence over the first amendment or it will lose what little credibility it has left, Holder's message was simple: "trust me, I am the government, and I will stop spying on you." The farce just goes downhill from there.

RT reports:

United States Attorney General Eric Holder said during an off-the-record meeting Thursday that the Department of Justice will change the way it conducts investigations of reporters amid scandals centered on Associated Press and Fox News journalists.

 

"Justice Department officials agreed that the journalists could discuss publicly in general some of the ideas that were discussed during the course of what [was] otherwise an off the record meeting,” Dylan Byers wrote for Politico. Journalists with other publications have also opened up about the event.

 

Despite the Justice Department’s original plans to keep the meeting’s details from going public, accounts of Thursday’s address that have surfaced in the day since reveal that Mr. Holder hoped to convince journalists that changes are on the horizon for how his office conducts probes into journalists.

 

According to Byers, Holder and Deputy Attorney General James Cole “said they are reaching out to editors and counsels for news organizations about how to strike what they called ‘the balance’ between protecting the flow of information and journalists’ ability to do our jobs and what they described as national security damage.”

 

“[Holder and aides] completely endorsed the president’s statement that reporters should not be at legal risk for doing their job. They acknowledged the need for changes in their own guidelines and the need to have a more rigorous internal review,” Martin Baron added in the Washington Post.

 

But even if the DoJ acknowledged those changes, eyewitnesses say it’s not certain when or how adjustments will be implemented. While most attendees say that Holder and Cole seemed understanding of their grievances, few walked away with feeling fulfilled about promises that have yet to be cemented.

 

“I didn’t come away with a precise understanding of how those guidelines might change, and I didn’t have impression they were settled in their own mind,” Byers added for a separate Politico article.

 

Who knows what’s going to happen if they in fact are going to practice what they seem to preach and try to change some laws that we feel are very relevant. But I think it’s sort of an opening gambit, an opening discussion,” New York Daily News Washington bureau chief Jim Warren told CNN.

And so on.

Summarizing: a secret meeting with the same press that was being spied on for who knows how long, promising that the administration will be more transparent, and to take the AG's word for it, the same AG who is being investigated for perjury before Congress.

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Sat, 06/01/2013 - 13:14 | 3616611 Van Halen
Van Halen's picture

The media representatives who went had tears in their eyes saying to Holder, "Please! Tell me you still love me and won't hurt me again!"

Henry Rollins' song, LIAR comes to mind...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaysTVcounI

Sat, 06/01/2013 - 13:18 | 3616620 jmcadg
jmcadg's picture

Fuck me, is this guy Eric Holder or Edgar Hoover.

Sat, 06/01/2013 - 13:53 | 3616670 JD59
JD59's picture

Holder is a pathological liar that should be in jail for his & Barry's Fast & Furious Meixcan mass murder scheme to destroy the 2nd amendment.

Sat, 06/01/2013 - 14:05 | 3616688 Everybodys All ...
Everybodys All American's picture

The very same day out of the DOJ we get this beauty.

The First Amendment served us well for a time, but now it's outdated.Remember reading that England had arrested a guy for anti-Muslim Twitter postings in the aftermath of the Woolrich slaughter? And remember thinking, "Well, this is America, that can't happen here"?

Oh yes it can. Obama's Attorney for the Eastern district of Tennessee wants you to know that if you say something untoward about Muslims, the Federal government may imprison you.

Killian and Moore will provide input on how civil rights can be violated by those who post inflammatory documents targeted at Muslims on social media. “This is an educational effort with civil rights laws as they play into freedom of religion and exercising freedom of religion,” Killian told The News Monday. “This is also to inform the public what federal laws are in effect and what the consequences are.” ... Killian said Internet postings that violate civil rights are subject to federal jurisdiction.

The posting he offers as a "for instance" is an egregious one. And yet this country has long protected, absolutely, egregious speech, such as hardcore pornography, for a simple reason: Either you are at liberty to say what you will or you are not. If you are constantly double-thinking every word you might say, for fear of being prosecuted, you are self-censoring, in anticipation of a possible prosecution by the government.

Rather than having a system in which people were constantly worried about imprisonment for speech, our country has evolved a simple bright-line code: Speech of all kinds, with a few exceptions that can be counted on three fingers, is absolutely protected.

Remember, the importance of this bright-line, no-exceptions rule of free speech was preached to us, even when some of us might not have liked it so much, as when hardcore pornography was afforded absolute protection under the First Amendment. In the case of hardcore pornography, it was argued -- successfully -- that having each artist weigh the possibility of an obscenity prosecution was too much of a burden on his free speech rights, and would have, unavoidably, a chilling effect on speech.

That was the rule then, and that was the rationale.

But now comes the Obama Administration to tell you that Yes, you just might be imprisoned for something you say online, so you'd better Watch What You Say.

Remember when Ari Fleischer said that, without suggesting any kind of legal penalties? Remember how the media freaked out?

But now comes the US Attorney for the Eastern district of Tennessee explicitly telling you that you may be imprisoned if a political appointee decides your political speech has crossed a line.

Somehow, I don't think Tim Robbins will be portentously howling us that a "chill wind" is blowing across our rights of free expression this week.

Sat, 06/01/2013 - 14:14 | 3616705 StarTedStackin'
StarTedStackin''s picture

Obama's NOT a Muslim though, all good Christians put Islam ahead of Christianity, and the U.S Constitution!

 

 

 

 

What HASN'T the Obowel Movement lied about?

 

 

 

Fuck Islam, it's a cult, and the Prophet Mohammed was a child molester!

Sat, 06/01/2013 - 14:49 | 3616789 F. Bastiat
F. Bastiat's picture

Among other things, Hussein Obama is a delusional marxist.

Mon, 06/03/2013 - 13:54 | 3620781 monad
Tue, 06/04/2013 - 05:14 | 3622847 MeelionDollerBogus
MeelionDollerBogus's picture

obviously this doesn't apply to the racist pro-Israel anti-Muslim / anti-Palestinian posters in the New York subways.

Sat, 06/01/2013 - 14:11 | 3616699 StarTedStackin'
StarTedStackin''s picture

but but but but Busch did the same thing......I mean both parties are the same,,,,,,remember the 4 quantitative easings that Busch did? Voting for Ron Paul was NOT a wasted vote or a vote for Obama.....

 

 

 

Yep!

Sat, 06/01/2013 - 14:37 | 3616756 Hannibal
Hannibal's picture

None of these fuckers going to jail, nothing will change!

Sat, 06/01/2013 - 15:06 | 3616793 StopIt.Now
StopIt.Now's picture

Dear Panel Members,

Yes, I committed rape... ok, 3 times over 4 years.  Yes, I lied about my involvement, and that I, in fact, was a willing participant.

But, I am speaking sincerely here, I want to secretly meet with the rape victims, by myself, in a hotel, behind locked doors, with tension-reducing oils and candles, a few random sex toys, a bowl of condoms, and a hidden video camera... because I want to share my [threats] ideas with these [low-life conservatives] poor misunderstood people.

I know, with a [criminal conviction] little teamwork, we can make sure this does not happen again to [me] such an extreme extent.  

I know it won't change what already happened, but I AM doing some serious soul-searching, trying to find a [legal excuse] balance for the method I use.  Perhaps I should just [resign] apologize, I get it.  I [hate] hear you, loud and clear.  I plan to definitely, absolutely, put new protections in place for [myself] everyone, so that I do not [get caught] unintentionally offend them again.

Most sincerely,

Eric "Hitman" Holder

 

Sat, 06/01/2013 - 15:18 | 3616844 HowardBeale
HowardBeale's picture

The Dominoes, in the order they will fall: Holder, Dimon, Bernanke, Clinton, Blankfein, Obama.

Sat, 06/01/2013 - 15:32 | 3616854 booboo
booboo's picture

You folks do realize that the IRS and ,mediagate scandals were outed by the White House for the express purpose of instilling fear in opposition groups and the media. They know this kind of intimidation will have deep roots and their sycophants and opposition know how nasty this administration is at this game. How many small businessmen are going to risk Stasi probes up their ass? How many honest reporters, as few as there are will risk a polonium cocktail?
We are finished as a "free" people when the intimidation is this overt and they know that nothing will be done to hold anyone accountable.

Tue, 06/04/2013 - 05:10 | 3622843 MeelionDollerBogus
MeelionDollerBogus's picture

What I realize is they fucked up completely.

Admitting twice under oath that taxes are voluntary is not the normal IRS playbook. They let themselves get fucked in the mouth involuntarily by unwashed truth-cock and they didn't like it. http://youtu.be/I_aQbr6d_Js

TWICE.

Under oath.

Sat, 06/01/2013 - 16:30 | 3616928 WallowaMountainMan
WallowaMountainMan's picture

long long ago in the early days of the internet, i postulated that the amount of information jay edgar hoover had to control everybody was going to be next to nothing when compared to the info the government (big business) was going to get from the net.

Sat, 06/01/2013 - 17:57 | 3617077 FishHockers
FishHockers's picture

How did Kermit Gosnel miss Holder? 

Sat, 06/01/2013 - 20:19 | 3617308 Mark Urbo
Mark Urbo's picture

Holder's comments are enough to make one puke...

Sat, 06/01/2013 - 23:08 | 3617593 robnume
robnume's picture

Yet another "promise" from this administration?  Get the fuck off of my planet Blobama, CONgress and SCROTUS!!                                                                                                                   

Sat, 06/01/2013 - 23:42 | 3617633 Hayabusa
Hayabusa's picture

Look, the corruption is becomming more and more blantant... the bailouts at taxpayer expense, gun control, the "patriot act"... Monsanto writing their own legislation i.e., "The Monsanto Protection Act" so they are given free reign to poison us all with GMO foods while concurrently stopping our food to be properly labeled so we know what is natural food and avoid GMO, etc.  Holder is simply the one who is taking the heat for the ENTIRE administration at this moment in time - just as planned.  Bernie Madoff can tell you how this works, he took the heat for the actions of a LOT of others.  Difference is Holder won't go to jail for even a second.

Sat, 06/01/2013 - 23:49 | 3617642 CutOut
CutOut's picture

Imprisoned CIA Torture Whistleblower John Kiriakou Sends Letter from Prison.

http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2013/05/29/imprisoned-cia-torture-whist...

Sun, 06/02/2013 - 07:29 | 3617907 stant
stant's picture

cant unring a bell.

Tue, 06/04/2013 - 05:07 | 3622840 MeelionDollerBogus
MeelionDollerBogus's picture

LOL - GUIDELINES.

Isn't there another name for that, um, FUCKING WARRANTS and THE FUCKING LAW?

Ya, how about that, Dick Holder?

If you can't get a warrant out of your request, especially from the bent, bribed, twisted judges currently on benches, you're shit out of luck because you're a douche & your request is too douchey.

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!