Pam Bondi condemns Bidens “Media Allied” for Lecks against Trump, revoked the protection of the garland era for journalists' recordings

The revocation of procedural protection for the press in relation to state leaks could set the prerequisites for a top-class showdown between the Trump administration and the press via leakage within the government.

The pivot point for the procedure is presented in a new memorandum of the Ministry of Justice. The new standard for the public prosecutor to determine whether court commands should be used to force journalists to give up their sources is whether it is “reasonable reasons to assume that a crime has occurred and the information sought for successful law enforcement is essential”.

This marks a change from the guideline known by General Prosecutor Garland – referred to as “news media guidelines” – which was limited, as the public prosecutor's office was able to investigate. This came after Mr. Garland secretly announced in 2021 that the first Trump government had secretly looked through the four reporters for the New York Times, probably because of a leakage probe that the Ministry of Justice carried out regarding the FBI director James Comey and his lieder. President Biden called this “just wrong”.

Now Ms. Bondi comes to argue that “it is necessary to lift the guidelines of Merrick Garland, which prevent the Ministry of Justice from looking for records and convincing statements by members of the news media in order to identify and punish the source of inappropriate leaks.”

The guidelines issued by Mr. Garland offered journalists from lectures, court order and search command – basics in the public prosecutor's toolbox – based on the “reception, possession or publication” of classified information. Journalists were protected as long as their actions in the “scope of the news gathering” could be understood as a performance.

Mr. Garland gave this category a broad berth and claimed that even the intake, possession and publication of classified information could be regarded as newsgathering. The leak out However, such information could be a violation of the 1917 spy law, which forbids the exchange of secret information with “non -authorized persons”. Special advisor Jack Smith accused Mr. Trump for dozen of violations of the spy law for his storage of documents in Mar-A-Lago.

The move of Mr. Garland was not only a great departure from the politics of Mr. Trump's first term, but also from that of President Obama, who was looking for speed – and was looking for a strong punishment for the government. The Obama government described a Times journalist, James Risen, who saw one of his sources, which was prosecuted by General Prosecutor's owner, the Obama government.

Ms. Bondi's memo explains that the change in Mr. Garland's guidelines is necessary to protect “classified, privileged and other confidential information”, a category that is wider than the Criminal Code. Ms. Bondi writes that the DOJ will “tolerate non -authorized disclosures that undermine the policy of President Trump, government authorities cause victims of the American people”.

The memo quotes the leak examination, which lasts in the Pentagon. The director of the national secret services, Tulsi Gabbard, recently published two criminal transfers to the DOJ, which concentrates on what she calls X “Intelligence Community Leaks” of people who serve as “deep state criminal”. Ms. Gabbard's deputy chief of staff separated that “two intelligence community” were transferred and that the leaks were contributed to an article by the Washington Post about the Tren de aragua Gang.

Ms. Bondi accuses the Biden Administration of “misused the excessively broad procedural protection of Garland for media allies by committing themselves to selective leaks to support failed legal campaigns”, and claims that “Leck's second inauguration has not left off”.

After the new dispensation, the news media must “answer prime loads if they are approved at the appropriate level within the Ministry of Justice”. In the Supreme Court of Court of New York Times Company against the USAThe judges stated the publication of the Pentagon papers that the mere request of the government of “security” was not sufficient “to abolish the Basic Law embodied in the first amendment”.

Journalists for large and small publications have been detained over the years – usually on the orders of the judges before federal or state courts – because they refused to disclose their sources. Ms. Bondis Memo seems to be secured in relation to sanctions. It swears to “restrict the use of the mandatory legal process” in order to maintain records from the press and acknowledge that a “free and independent press is of crucial importance for the functioning of our democracy”.

According to the new regulations, the Attorney General – now Ms. Bondi – “also approved the efforts to question or arrange members of the news media.”

Ms. Bondi promises to protect the “basic rock” principle of a free fourth property despite the “lack of independence of certain members of the Legacy messages”. It also reflects that “investigative techniques in terms of newsgathering are an extraordinary measure that must be used as a last resort if it is essential for a successful examination or law enforcement.”