The deputy attorney general says the Justice Department won't 'prosecute journalists for doing their jobs'
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Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said in an interview on Fox News Sunday that he is ready to "devote whatever resources are necessary" and prosecute "anybody who breaks the law" to get executive branch leaks under control.
"What we need to look at in every leak referral we get, we look at the facts and circumstances. What was the potential harm caused by the leak? What were the circumstances? That’s more important to us than who it is who is the leaker," he said. Still, Rosenstein cointinued, "if we identify somebody — no matter what their position is — if they violated the law and that case warrants prosecution, we'll prosecute it."
While Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Friday suggested he might target members of the media who report based on leaks, Rosenstein claimed Sunday the "attorney general has been very clear that we're after the leakers, not the journalists," adding, "We don't prosecute journalists for doing their jobs." Watch the full interview below. Bonnie Kristian
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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
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