Disturbing abuses of power.  [Scroll down]  On top of the mistakes made by a U.S. official leaking the nation's secrets, the administration compounded things by launching a dragnet for the records of calls received and made from 20 phone lines (including office, home and cell numbers) of the AP journalists in five area codes and three states.

The Biggest Obama Scandals Are Proven and Ignored.  The IRS scandal and Department of Justice leak-investigation excesses are worrisome, but the biggest scandals definitely go all the way to the top, and are still largely ignored even by commentators who have acknowledged that they're happening.

Rep. Gohmert on AP Scandal: 'When There Is a Tyrannical Despot the Media Will Be One of the Early Victims'.  Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) told the large group of reporters gathered for a press conference on Thursday [5/16/2013] that the Department of Justice seizure of phone records from the Associated Press is what happens when a "tyrannical despot" is running the government.

Jonathan Malis and the DOJ Leak Investigation.  One of the lead federal prosecutors behind the Justice Department's sweeping seizure of the Associated Press's phone records is deputy chief of the criminal division Jonathan Malis — a hard-charging 15-year veteran of the U.S. Attorney's Office who is known among colleagues for a single-minded, even zealous, pursuit of his criminal targets.  And there's perhaps no better illustration of his aggressive style than the fact that he once had a caustic, highly personal exchange with Eric Holder, who at the time was a defense lawyer in private practice but is now the attorney general — that is, Malis's boss.

Your Phone Records May Have Been Seized, Too — But You'll Never Know.  Members of the press and defenders of civil liberties are rightfully outraged over the Justice Department's seizure of phone records from Associated Press reporters.  But for those familiar with the strange new world of digital surveillance, the secret acquisition of phone logs and emails is only an unusually public example of something that is disturbingly widespread, highly secret[Scroll down]  and completely legal.

Report: White House Didn't Want Story AP Was Monitored Over Published Until Obama Could Brag About It.  The monitoring [of the AP] was prompted by a national security leak.  Speaking about the monitoring earlier this week, Attorney General Eric Holder made it a point to stress how "serious" of a leak this was.  "It's in the top two or three most serious leaks I've ever seen," Holder said.  But now, the Washington Post is reporting that the administration planned to brag about the very case that prompted the DOJ to secretly monitor the AP after reporters wrote about the case.

Obama's crew plays dumb and dumber.  Has President Nixon been replaced by Sergeant Schultz?  The "Smartest President Ever" has disappeared.  The Barack Brain Trust long-touted by liberals is gone — replaced by hacks whose rallying cry is straight from Stalag 13 — "I know nothing.  Nothing!"  The top law enforcement agency in the land spied on the top news-gathering organization, secretly seizing phone records from their home and cell phones.  They did so without the legally required notice to the Associated Press.  And what did Attorney General Eric Holder say when asked why his Department of Justice would do such a thing?

This Is No Ordinary Scandal.  We are in the midst of the worst Washington scandal since Watergate.  The reputation of the Obama White House has, among conservatives, gone from sketchy to sinister, and, among liberals, from unsatisfying to dangerous.  No one likes what they're seeing.  The Justice Department assault on the Associated Press and the ugly politicization of the Internal Revenue Service have left the administration's credibility deeply, probably irretrievably damaged.

Holder Caught Lying — Again.  Is there no accountability and punishment?  Eric admits that there is nothing in writing on recusal from the AP case — the only person told was the deputy attorney general.

Why the underwear-bomber leak infuriated the Obama administration.  First Amendment radicals — I count myself among them — resist any and all such intrusions:  You can't very well have a free press if every unpublished act of journalism can be co-opted by cops, prosecutors and defense attorneys.

You Know What Really Risks National Security? Leak Investigations.  After the IRS lied about targeting of conservatives and the White House minimized the State Department's role in disputed Benghazi talking points, the justification for snooping on the AP raises new questions about the administration's credibility.  One of those questions is whether the CIA and White House are more concerned about plugging leaks or about managing spin.

AP Phone Records Furor Breaks 335 Days of Silence on Obama Leak Scandal.  The media furor that began Monday night over the Justice Department obtaining two months of phone records from the Associated Press marks the first time in 335 days that any of the Big Three evening newscasts have even mentioned the existence of two criminal investigations into whether White House or other national security officials leaked sensitive secrets, perhaps to politically benefit Barack Obama's re-election campaign.

Government's heavy hand felt in IRS, AP scandals.  If there is any thread that unites these scandals, it is government heavy-handedness.  Seizing the phone records of, say, three editors and reporters would constitute a leak investigation.  Seizing the phone records of perhaps 100 is a fishing expedition and a form of intimidation.  "They're sending a clear message to our sources," says National Journal's Ron Fournier.  "'Don't embarrass the administration or we're coming after you.'"

Obama's Scandals Stem from His Lawless Presidency.  Last Friday, after the Associated Press learned about the Justice Department's sweeping seizure of its phone records, AP CEO Gary Pruitt said "there can be no possible justification" for the action.  No doubt that's true.  But there also seems to be no possible justification for the many other scandals now swamping the Obama administration — from Benghazi, to the IRS scandal to the White House's attempt to shake down health companies for ObamaCare money.  Except that they all stem from a common root — President Obama's callous disregard for the rule of law.

52 Media Orgs Sign Letter of Complaint to Eric Holder.  The journalist group Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press has penned a letter of complaint to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder after revelations that the Department of Justice obtained the phone records of some 100 reporters from the Associated Press.  The letter informs Holder that the group was "stunned" to learn of the DOJ's actions against the Associated Press and notes that none of them could "remember an instance where such an overreaching dragnet for news gathering materials was deployed by the Department."

Former Attorneys General say Justice Department's AP operation highly unusual.  The Justice Department is obligated to investigate leaks that could endanger national security, but the secret seizure of Associated Press telephone records — called a "massive and unprecedented intrusion" by the news organization — is unusual, according to two former attorneys general.

Did the White House Try to Get a Conservative Columnist Canned?  According to Dr. Milton Wolf, the answer is "yes."  And he should know, because the columnist was him.  Milton Wolf is a physician practicing in Kansas City, and he's also President Barack Obama's second cousin.  During the health care debates of 2010, Dr. Wolf began speaking out against the ObamaCare proposal.  Because he is an articulate, knowledgeable, passionate conservative, he began getting national attention, appearing on outlets including PJTV and Fox News.

Obamagate: The Focus Is Barack Obama.  In Part One of this series, published on Monday [5/13/2013], I used the word "Watergate" seven times, openly comparing the scandalous Obama administration to the scandalous Nixon administration.  I didn't know the half of it.  Just hours after Part One ran, we all learned the disturbing news of the rogue Justice Department wiretaps on the Associated Press.  Now, even the liberals in the MSM are in an uproar, and the chief target is Attorney General Eric Holder.

Sgt. Schultz at the White House.  Over the course of two months last year, federal agents secretly went through the records of who has been calling whom at the news cooperative, whether on business phones or personal cellphones.  Casting such a wide net surely exposed the confidential sources used for many important political stories.  Justice officials insist they're only interested in finding out who leaked details of a sensitive U.S. intelligence operation in Yemen last year.

Justice Dept. Secretly Makes 'Massive and Unprecedented' Grab of AP Phone Records.  The AP reported that the Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone records of reporters and editors dated April and May 2012, including incoming and outgoing calls, and the duration of each call, for the work and personal phone numbers of individual reporters, general AP office numbers in New York, Washington and Hartford, Conn., and the main number for AP reporters in the House of Representatives press gallery.

Inside the AP: Fear, determination.  Reporters across The Associated Press are outraged over the Justice Department's sweeping seizure of staff phone records — and they say such an intrusion could chill their relationships with confidential sources.  In conversations with POLITICO on Tuesday, several AP staffers in Washington, D.C., described feelings of anger and frustration with the DOJ and with the Obama administration in general.

White House tries to insulate President Obama from growing controversies.  White House aides on Tuesday tried to distance President Obama from the growing controversies over the IRS' targeting of conservative groups and the Justice Department's monitoring of journalists' phones by pleading total ignorance of events already starting to overshadow virtually every other issue on the president's agenda.  But even Democrats fear that the Obama administration's strategy of laying low and keeping quiet may only intensify scrutiny of the president and make it harder for him to escape blame for the actions of those working below him.

Priebus demands Holder resign over AP probe.  U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder must resign after his agency collected two months of telephone records from reporters at the Associated Press, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said Tuesday [5/14/2013].  "Freedom of the press is an essential right in a free society.  The First Amendment doesn't request the federal government to respect it; it demands it," Priebus wrote in a statement Tuesday.

Obama Hailed 'World Press Freedom Day' As His DOJ Was Seizing AP Phone Records.  President Barack Obama issued a statement heralding World Press Freedom Day in May 2012, at the same time his Department of Justice was secretly obtaining phone records from Associated Press reporters and editors.

Mukasey: Justice Department's AP search 'reprehensible'.  President George W. Bush's attorney general said Tuesday [5/14/2013] that the Obama administration has engaged in "reprehensible conduct" with its unprecedented collection of Associated Press phone logs.  Michael Mukasey, who led the Justice Department under Mr. Bush in the final years of his presidency, said it appears the administration wanted to muzzle news accounts contradicting their "narrative" that al Qaeda was on the run.

Spying on The Associated Press.  The Obama administration, which has a chilling zeal for investigating leaks and prosecuting leakers, has failed to offer a credible justification for secretly combing through the phone records of reporters and editors at The Associated Press in what looks like a fishing expedition for sources and an effort to frighten off whistle-blowers.

This tells us something about the kind of country we live in:  Our president is applauded by a dictator in North Korea.
Kim Jong-un Defends Right to Obtain Journalists' Phone Records.  As controversy swirled around the Department of Justice's move to obtain journalists' phone records, the White House picked up a vote of support today from an unexpected source, Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un of North Korea.  "I honestly don't see what the fuss is all about," Mr. Kim said in an official statement today.  "Of course it's the government's right to know what people are doing at all times — and journalists would be right at the top of the list."

A.P. Scandal Raises Spectre of Big Brother.  If the three-strikes rule were in effect, President Obama would be heading for the dugout, bat in hand.  First the alleged Benghazi cover-up, then the kerfuffle about the I.R.S. targeting conservative groups, and now the revelation that earlier this year the Justice Department secretly seized two months of phone records involving editors and reporters at the Associated Press.

Justice Department secretly obtained AP phone records.  The records obtained by the Justice Department listed incoming and outgoing calls, and the duration of each call, for the work and personal phone numbers of individual reporters, general AP office numbers in New York, Washington and Hartford, Conn., and the main number for AP reporters in the House of Representatives press gallery, according to attorneys for the AP.

By Badge, Phone & Email: Here's How Obama's DOJ Snooped on Top Fox News Reporter.  A story posted by The Washington Post on Sunday Evening [5/19/2013] will stir new debate and review over the tactics used by the Obama administration to monitor how journalists interact with government sources.  The reporter in focus — James Rosen a top Washington Correspondent for Fox News.

A rare peek into a Justice Department leak probe.  The case of Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, the government adviser, and James Rosen, the chief Washington correspondent for Fox News, bears striking similarities to a sweeping leaks investigation disclosed last week in which federal investigators obtained records over two months of more than 20 telephone lines assigned to the Associated Press.

Obama vs. Fox News — behind the White House strategy to delegitimize a news organization.  There is no war on terror for the Obama White House, but there is one on Fox News.  In a recent interview with The New Republic, President Obama was back to his grousing about the one television news outlet in America that won't fall in line and treat him as emperor.  Discussing breaking Washington's partisan gridlock, the president told TNR,"If a Republican member of Congress is not punished on Fox News... for working with a Democrat on a bill of common interest, then you'll see more of them doing it."

Charles Krauthammer: I love to hear the president whine about FOX News and talk radio.  Last night [1/28/2013] on FOX News, political analyst Charles Krauthammer explained that he was delighted after he heard Obama's recent comments about FOX News and talk radio.  "I love to hear the president whine about FOX News and talk radio," he said adding that "I think we ought to be proud of the fact that we annoy him so much."

Fox News Fights Back Against Obama Smear.  Recently in an interview with the liberal magazine the New Republic on "his enemies, the media and the future of football," President Obama took aim not just at his antagonists on Capitol Hill but also those in the press, particularly Fox News.  He told the New Republic:  ["]One of the biggest factors is going to be how the media shapes debates.  If a Republican member of Congress is not punished on Fox News or by Rush Limbaugh for working with a Democrat on a bill of common interest, then you'll see more of them doing it.["]

Obama Threatens Fox News, Limbaugh.  Despite the fact that Obama's policies have been abysmal failures on virtually every front, the question for Obama is not what to do, but how to swindle the American people into doing it.

Is the White House freezing Fox out of pressers?  It's no secret that Fox News is not Barack Obama's favorite news channel.  In his first year, the White House more or less declared war on Fox, suspending its strategy only when other media outlets began to publicly criticize Obama for it, blocking the White House attempt to freeze Fox out of coverage.  They may have relented publicly on the deep freeze, but a new study by the University of Minnesota's Eric Ostermeier suggests that the Obama administration has quietly imposed a big chill on Fox instead.

Study: Fox News shunned at Obama press conferences, 9th among news outlets.  It's no secret that the White House carefully scripts its press conferences, and a new study from the University of Minnesota has quantified just how much President Barack Obama plays favorites in the press briefing room.  The analysis, published on Wednesday by the Smart Politics group at the university's Humphrey School of Public Affairs, took a look at all of the president's press conferences in his first term, and determined ABC, CBS, the Associated Press and NBC were favorites of Obama.

Kirsten Powers, the Last Liberal?  Last week Kirsten Powers, one of the more visible Democratic contributors to Fox News, wrote a lengthy piece for that organization's website called "Obama vs. Fox News — behind the White House strategy to delegitimize a news organization." [...] "There is no war on terror for the Obama White House," her op-ed began, "but there is one on Fox News."

This is an original compilation, Copyright © 2013 by Andrew K. Dart