Attkisson files lawsuit v. DOJ; What about criminal charges? :: 01/07/2015

Former CBS award-winning investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson’s lawsuit against the Justice Department yesterday has been making headlines over the past 24 hours, with several stories stating that the action alleges “illegal surveillance” of her work “while she was reporting on administration scandals.”

Curiously, one report now relegates Attkisson to the realm of “conservative author,” rather than the hard-digging journalist whose work over the years earned her professional accolades. But that is a side issue to the lawsuit, and the alleged illegal hacking of her computers, which raises a question.

If something is apparently illegal, should there not also be a criminal investigation of some sort? But who is going to investigate Eric Holder’s Justice Department, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform? That body investigated Operation Fast and Furious, the gun walking scandal that put some 2,000 guns in the hands of Mexican drug gangs. How did that turn out?

Named as defendants are Holder, Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe and “unknown named agents” of both the Justice Departments and the U.S. Postal Service. The 17-page lawsuit was posted by Gawker yesterday. Outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder is named as a defendant in a lawsuit filed by investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson.

Reached yesterday via e-mail, Attkisson made it clear to Examiner that this alleged hacking of her computers covers a lot of ground. Both her home and work computers were allegedly hacked.

“You can say,” she stated, “that the intrusions and surveillance took place over a long period that included my coverage of Fast and Furious, Green Energy Debacles, Congressional Investigations and Benghazi.” She noted that those four stories were nominated for, or won, Emmy awards.

The DOJ has denied involvement in the alleged hacking. Published reports said Attkisson’s computers were examined by forensic experts, revealing that someone had apparently been checking her work between 2011 and 2013. That period covered the period when Attkisson was reporting on both Fast and Furious and Benghazi.

Attkisson has written a best-selling book about her efforts to report on these scandals, and the resistance she received from the administration, and from CBS. “Stonewalled” tells of these battles, which led to her resignation from the network last March after 20 years of reporting.

However, according to Politico, after Attkisson left CBS over her professed “frustrations” with the network’s “liberal bias,” sources at CBS reportedly felt her coverage of the Obama administration “had become agenda-driven and led network executives to doubt the impartiality of her reporting.” But ever since publication of former CBS correspondent Bernard Goldberg’s best-selling 2001 book “Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News,” it has been hotly debated about who is or is not biased in the national press.

Still, the original question remains. If this was “illegal surveillance,” then someone, or a group of “someones,” should ultimately face criminal charges, shouldn’t they?

CBS looked into the hacking in August 2013. At the time, CBS issued a statement that her computer had apparently been hacked by “an unauthorized, external, unknown party on multiple occasions.”

Attkisson undeniably was aggressive in her pursuit of both Fast and Furious and Benghazi. Her exclusive interview with Fast & Furious whistleblower John Dodson in March 2011 brought national attention to a story that had been originally exposed by National Gun Rights Examiner David Codrea and independent blogger Mike Vanderboegh.

The Obama administration has tried to downplay Fast and Furious, yet fought to protect thousands of documents requested, and then subpoenaed by the House Oversight committee. President Obama tried to protect those documents through executive privilege. Last year, a federal judge ordered that a list of documents be released to Judicial Watch.

In November, more than 64,000 documents were finally turned over to the House committee. This was several weeks after Holder announced he would step down as Attorney General.

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