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The Trump administration battled with CNN for half a year to obtain the email records of a reporter and insisted it all take place under an extraordinary order of secrecy, CNN’s lead attorney revealed on Wednesday, June 9, 2021. The pursuit — which started in July 2020 under then-Attorney General William Barr with a demand for two months’ of CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr‘s 2017 email logs — continued even after a federal judge told the Justice Department its argument for access to Starr’s internal emails was “speculative” and “unanchored in any facts.” The Trump administration’s secret pursuit represents a highly unusual and unrelenting push for journalists’ records. It included putting CNN general counsel David Vigilante under a gag order prohibiting him from sharing any details about the government’s efforts with anyone beyond the network’s president, top attorneys at CNN’s corporate parent and attorneys at an outside law firm, in the video published on June 9, 2021, “Trump’s DOJ pursued CNN reporter’s emails in secret court battle“, below: Biden Administration promised that Biden DOJ would not seize reporters’ records for leak investigations. A meeting is scheduled for next Monday, June 14, 2021, between Attorney General Merrick Garland and representatives of CNN, New York Times, and Washington Post to address this issue and to enable the Biden DOJ to find ways to assure journalists that such practices in obtaining sources by the government will not be used by Biden DOJ. New guidelines will be needed to insure such practices will never occur with any future administration. Since July 17, 2020, David Vigilante(Executive Vice President and General Counsel for CNN) have been bound by a gag order or a sealing order that prohibited Barbara Starr from discussing, or even acknowledging, that the government was seeking to compel the disclosure of the professional email communications of CNN reporter Barbara Starr. That day, through the parent company WarnerMedia, Starr received a secret order issued by a federal magistrate judge in the Eastern District of Virginia. That court, based on an ex parte submission approved by the William Barr-led Justice Department, had ruled that CNN must produce all of Ms. Starr’s email headers from a two-month period in 2017. CNN immediately retained outside counsel to challenge the order. Vigilante was informed that, other than conferring with counsel, the order prohibited  Vigilante from acknowledging to anyone that it even existed unless Vigilante had express permission from the Department of Justice.  Vigilante was told in no uncertain terms (multiple times) that he was forbidden from communicating about any aspect of the order or these proceedings to the journalist whose interests he is duty-bound to protect, Barbara Starr. And he was further informed that if he violated the order, he was subject to charges of contempt and even criminal prosecution for obstruction of justice. He was aware that such secret orders were used by DOJ on matters of national security. However, in the 20 years he had been at CNN, CNN journalists have never been subject to one. That is likely because the law and existing DOJ regulations establish (at least on paper) a very high bar for such an order to be issued directly against a media organization. Advance notice is typically required. The government is required to show “negotiations with the affected member of the news media [and] appropriate notice to the affected member of the news media, unless the Attorney General determines that, for compelling reasons, such negotiations or notice would pose a clear and substantial threat to the integrity of the investigation, risk grave harm to national security, or present an imminent risk of death or serious bodily harm,” according to Justice Department regulations, in the video published on June 9, 2021, “CNN lawyer describes gag order where DOJ sought reporter’s email“, below: David Vigilante concluded that new guidelines will be needed to insure such practices will not occur with any future administrations. As indicated in Boston Globe Editorial Board, in italics, “Donald Trump exposed the weaknesses in our system of government that could now be exploited by a corrupt leader with control of the White House. In this series, the Globe editorial board outlines the urgent reforms needed to prevent the rise of an American tyrant –  and to protect our democracy for posterity.“ For restraining future Presidents of the United States from abusing power should be a bipartisan effort, please view Boston Globe’s Editorial piece on Future-Proofing the Presidency.  Rep. Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, talks with Rachel Maddow about a breaking report from the New York Times that the Department of Justice under Donald Trump in investigating leaks to the media subpoenaed Apple for his data and that of his staffers as well as a child, in the video published on June 10, 2021, “Adam Schiff Rips Trump, DOJ For Reportedly Seizing His Data“, below: Abdallah Fayyad, Boston Globe Editorial Board member and opinion writer, breaks down the Board’s series on the need to hold Trump accountable, because what happened during his presidency showed “just how weak our checks and balances are against a tyrannical president.” in the video published on June 10, 2021, “Boston Globe Editorial Board Member On The Need To Hold Trump Accountable”, below: As indicated in Boston Globe Editorial Board, in italics, “Donald Trump exposed the weaknesses in our system of government that could now be exploited by a corrupt leader with control of the White House. In this series, the Globe editorial board outlines the urgent reforms needed to prevent the rise of an American tyrant –  and to protect our democracy for posterity.“ For restraining future Presidents of the United States from abusing power should be a bipartisan effort, please view Boston Globe’s Editorial piece on Future-Proofing the Presidency.  Gathered, written, and posted by Windermere Sun-Susan Sun Nunamaker More about the community at www.WindermereSun.com Any comments, suggestions, concerns regarding this post will be welcomed at info.WindermereSun@gmail.com

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