The U.S. Attorney General on Friday rescinded a memo issued four years ago that limited the ability of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to target reporters during criminal and civil investigations.
The memo, issued by former Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2021, limited the seizure of documents from journalists and news organizations only to extreme cases where a reporter or employee of a news outlet was accused of a specific crime.
The directive followed numerous reports that the DOJ had subpoenaed the phone and e-mail records of reporters and news outlets when investigating the leak and subsequent publishing of classified materials or other records that were not intended for public view.
On Friday, Attorney General Pam Bondi said the leaking and publishing of classified materials “is illegal and wrong, and it must stop.”
“Safeguarding classified, privileged and other sensitive information is essential to effective governance and law enforcement,” Bondi wrote. “Federal government employees intentionally leaking sensitive information to the media undermines the ability of the Department of Justice to uphold the rule of law, protect civil rights, and keep America safe.”
Bondi said the DOJ will continue to “defend that principle, despite the lack of independence of certain members of the legacy news media,” and intends to promote “procedural protections to limit the use of compulsory legal process to obtain information from or records of members of the news media, which include enhanced approval and advance-notice procedures.”
She did not expand on the protectionist policies of the DOJ with respect to the news media, but affirmed that targeting reporters in leak investigations would be “deployed as a last result.”
“This Justice Department will not tolerate unauthorized disclosures that undermine President Trump’s policies, victimize government agencies, and cause harm to the American people,” Bondi warned.
The updated policy comes two days after Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said she had made two referrals to the DOJ for prosecution that involved officials leaking classified information to a news media organization, with the promise of referring a third case in the near future.
One of those matters purportedly involved Pentagon officials sharing information with the Washington Post that involved information on geopolitical matters concerning Israel and Iran.
A report issued by the Washington Post earlier this week also noted that embattled Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who worked at Fox News Media prior to his appointment by President Trump, had installed the encrypted messaging application Signal on his work-issued computer after previously using it on his smartphone.
In March, The Atlantic reported one of its top editors was accidentally included in a group chat involving Hegseth and other government officials that included detailed, play-by-play discussions about military action overseas.
