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Armed agents seize records of reporter, Washington Times prepares legal action
The Washington Times ^ | October 25, 2013 | Guy Taylor

Posted on 10/25/2013 3:53:11 PM PDT by jazusamo

Maryland state police and federal agents used a search warrant in an unrelated criminal investigation to seize the private reporting files of an award-winning former investigative journalist for The Washington Times who had exposed problems in the Homeland Security Department’s Federal Air Marshal Service.

Reporter Audrey Hudson said the investigators, who included an agent for Homeland’s Coast Guard service, took her private notes and government documents that she had obtained under the Freedom of Information Act during a predawn raid of her family home on Aug. 6.

The documents, some which chronicled her sources and her work at the Times about problems inside the Homeland Security Department, were seized under a warrant to search for unregistered firearms and a “potato gun” suspected of belonging to her husband, Paul Flanagan, a Coast Guard employee. Mr. Flanagan has not been charged with any wrongdoing since the raid.

The warrant, obtained by the Times, offered no specific permission to seize reporting notes or files.

The Washington Times said Friday it is preparing legal action to fight what it called an unwarranted intrusion on the First Amendment.

“While we appreciate law enforcement’s right to investigate legitimate concerns, there is no reason for agents to use an unrelated gun case to seize the First Amendment protected materials of a reporter,” Times Editor John Solomon said. “This violates the very premise of a free press, and it raises additional concerns when one of the seizing agencies was a frequent target of the reporter’s work.

“Homeland’s conduct in seizing privileged reporters notes and Freedom of Information Act documents raises serious Fourth Amendment issues, and our lawyers are preparing an appropriate legal response,” he said.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Front Page News; Government; Politics/Elections; US: Maryland
KEYWORDS: 1984; 1stamendment; 201308; 2nd; 2ndamendment; 4thamendment; airmarshalls; audreyhudson; banglist; batf; batfe; coastguard; dhs; doj; falsepretext; firstamendmant; firstamendment; fourthamendment; freedom; freedomofpress; gunrights; guns; hudson; illegalsearch; irs; johnsolomon; liberty; maryland; mps; paulflanagan; pingdanquayle; pingingqualye; potatoes; potatogun; secondamendment; silencer; silencers; tyranny; uscg; washingtontimes
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To: Ann Archy
We are living in a POLICE STATE.....man the TORPEDOES!!

I'll drink to that.


61 posted on 10/26/2013 4:29:22 AM PDT by Disambiguator
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To: jazusamo

This happened in August, and we’re just now hearing about it? Something smells bad about this story.


62 posted on 10/26/2013 4:29:35 AM PDT by Rocky (The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it. George Orwell)
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To: Rocky

Read link at Post #56 (through to the end).


63 posted on 10/26/2013 4:31:27 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: jazusamo
ncluding handwritten and typed notes from interviews with numerous confidential sources related to her exclusive reporting on the air marshals service.

These people should worry.

64 posted on 10/26/2013 4:36:50 AM PDT by MarMema ("If Americans really wanted Obamacare, you wouldn't need a law to make them buy it." Ted Cruz)
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To: CIB-173RDABN

> The main stream media

Washington Times is not “main stream media”.

They have been very critical of 0dunga and his coterie of Chicago thugs.


65 posted on 10/26/2013 4:48:25 AM PDT by Westbrook ()Children do not divide your love, they multiply it.)
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To: JoeProBono

Ooooo...Gotta get Me One o’ THOSE!


66 posted on 10/26/2013 5:19:14 AM PDT by left that other site (You Shall Know the Truth, and the Truth Shall Set You Free...John 8:32)
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To: Westbrook

Find out who the Judge that signed the search warrant was and start calling these judges who are against the Constitution.

Use the Alinsky tactics against them.


67 posted on 10/26/2013 5:19:41 AM PDT by Dacula
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To: Rightwing Conspiratr1

Agreed, but the Times has no standing under the 4th cause of action, only the former Times Reporter does. Where are all the indignant news organizations rushing to join the 1st cause of action ?


68 posted on 10/26/2013 5:45:53 AM PDT by major-pelham
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To: CIB-173RDABN
Somewhere along the way the main stream media choose sides, and now they are paying the price.

There are lots of financial reasons to own a media source beyond advertising revenue.

The power to rouse the rabble is a powerful weapon in a democracy (which is what we are becoming). The more socialist that democracy becomes, the more powerful is the weapon, making the selling of influence more important than selling the advertising, especially insofar as leveraging other investments is concerned. News can deflect stock prices; and beats insider trading as a way to make money.

69 posted on 10/26/2013 6:49:42 AM PDT by Carry_Okie (ZeroCare: Make them pay; do not delay.)
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To: jazusamo

Any idea if they found the potato gun and/or any unregistered guns?

What a case study on the reasons to reject gun registration. It can be used as a pretext for violating every home in America.


70 posted on 10/26/2013 7:00:35 AM PDT by xzins ( Retired Army Chaplain and Proud of It! Those who truly support our troops pray for victory!)
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To: jazusamo

I’m sure it was just a dreadful accident that they took the info for the whistleblowers.


71 posted on 10/26/2013 7:43:28 AM PDT by MarMema ("If Americans really wanted Obamacare, you wouldn't need a law to make them buy it." Ted Cruz)
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To: I want the USA back

Obama blasted for cracking down on free press

A letter to the White House, a laundry list of recommendations for the president and a 29-page report about the administration’s assault on free press are all compiled in the latest offering from the Center to Protect Journalists.

The CPJ, a non-profit founded over 30 years ago to promote “press freedom worldwide and defends the right of journalists to report the news without fear of reprisal,” published a special report on Thursday penned by longtime Washington Post executive editor Leonard Downie Jr. in which he dismantles United States President Barack Obama’s treatment of journalists with assistance from the country’s foremost national security reporters.

http://rt.com/usa/obama-cpj-press-report-991/


72 posted on 10/26/2013 7:49:03 AM PDT by ilovesarah2012
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To: JoeProBono; Nita Nupress; Dog Gone

// The documents, some which chronicled her sources and her work at the Times about problems inside the Homeland Security Department, were seized under a warrant to search for unregistered firearms and a “potato gun” suspected of belonging to her husband, Paul Flanagan, a Coast Guard employee. //

Potato gun ping.


73 posted on 10/26/2013 7:53:42 AM PDT by cyn (Benghazi.)
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To: Carry_Okie

Who Owns the Media?

Massive corporations dominate the U.S. media landscape. Through a history of mergers and acquisitions, these companies have concentrated their control over what we see, hear and read. In many cases, these companies are vertically integrated, controlling everything from initial production to final distribution. In the interactive charts below we reveal who owns what.

http://www.freepress.net/ownership/chart


74 posted on 10/26/2013 7:55:08 AM PDT by ilovesarah2012
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To: cyn

75 posted on 10/26/2013 8:15:38 AM PDT by JoeProBono (SOME IMAGES MAY BE DISTURBING VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED;-{)
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To: JoeProBono

Yeah, loved it, fanciest I’ve seen! Whodda thunk we’d be reading about tato guns and freedom of the press in the same sentence?


76 posted on 10/26/2013 8:31:46 AM PDT by cyn (Benghazi.)
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To: ilovesarah2012

Thanks for link


77 posted on 10/26/2013 8:32:33 AM PDT by cyn (Benghazi.)
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To: Lazamataz

And just think about how many whistleblowers out there, thinking about blowing the whistle on Obama admin thuggery, WILL NOT now due to this raid. Obviously this is one of the goals of the raid.


78 posted on 10/26/2013 8:40:37 AM PDT by Cen-Tejas (it's the debt bomb stupid!)
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To: livius
[ Armed agents were searching for a “potato gun” belonging to her husband? Talk about a flimsy pretext. Not to mention ridiculous. ]

I like this pretext!

I think Barry has a potato gun, in fact I have photos of it!

GET THE RECORDS FROM VALERIE JARRET'S OFFICE WHILE WE ARE AT IT........

79 posted on 10/26/2013 8:41:34 AM PDT by GraceG
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To: Steely Tom
[ Seems they didn't follow specific instructions on search warrant and took reporter Audrey Hudson's confidential notes.

Maybe Obama gave them a waiver. ]

After Obama threatned the agents with his own potato gun perhapse.....

80 posted on 10/26/2013 8:42:54 AM PDT by GraceG
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