U.S. Justice Department Seizes AP Journalists' Phone Records -- News Roundup

Associated Press Says U.S. Government Seized Journalists' Phone Records -- Reuters

(Reuters) - The Associated Press on Monday said the U.S. government secretly seized telephone records of AP offices and reporters for a two-month period in 2012, describing the acts as a "massive and unprecedented intrusion" into news-gathering operations.

AP Chief Executive Gary Pruitt, in a letter posted on the agency's website, said the AP was informed last Friday that the Justice Department gathered records for more than 20 phone lines assigned to the agency and its reporters.

"There can be no possible justification for such an overbroad collection of the telephone communications of The Associated Press and its reporters," Pruitt said in the letter, which was addressed to Attorney General Eric Holder.

An AP story on the records seizure said the government would not say why it sought the records.

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More News On AP's Report That The U.S. Government Seized Journalists' Phone Records

Gov't obtains wide AP phone records in probe -- AP
AP to Eric Holder: 'No Possible Justification' for Phone Record Seizure -- US News and World Report
Justice subpoenaed AP phone records, news service says -- CNN
U.S. Obtains Wide AP Phone Records in Probe -- Wall Street Journal
News agency protests US seizure of phone records -- AFP
Justice Department secretly obtained AP telephone records -- L.A. Times
Justice Dept. secretly seized AP reporters’ phone records -- The Hill
US Justice Department secretly seizes Associated Press phone records -- The Telegraph
Report: DoJ Secretly Collected Two Months of AP Phone Records -- FOX News
AP: Government subpoenaed journalists’ phone records -- Washington Post
AP complains of ‘massive and unprecedented intrusion’ by DOJ into reporters’ phone records -- ABA Journal
Obama Administration Secretly Obtains Phone Records of AP Journalists -- Wired
AP: Justice Dept monitored phone calls in 'unprecedented intrusion' -- Global Post
'UNPRECEDENTED INTRUSION': Justice Department Secretly Obtains Months Of AP Reporter Phone Records -- Business Insider
The Department of Justice Secretly Spied on the Associated Press -- Motherboard
Here's The Justice Department's Statement On Obtaining Months Of Phone Records From The AP -- Business Insider
The Justice Department Secretly Seized AP Phone Records — on a Terror Leak? -- Philip Bump, The Atlantic

Update #1: This is apparently the reason why AP's phone records were seized.
Update #2: This is a story with international implications. Even Russian News (RT) is reporting on it. If I am an AP reporter right now, I will be furious .... and scared. No one .... I repeat .... no one is going to confide in AP (the world's largest news wire service) on any story right now knowing that the US Justice Department may be listening in.