Journalists on Monday called the news the Justice Department seized records from phone lines assigned to Associated Press offices and its reporters over a two month period “chilling” and a “dragnet to intimidate the media.” 
 
 The AP reported the Justice Dept. obtained records that listed incoming and outgoing calls and the duration of those calls for work and personal phone numbers of AP reporters and phone lines for AP offices in New York, Hartford, Conn. and Washington, as well as the main number for AP reporters in the House of Representatives press gallery. The government seized records — which listed incoming and outgoing calls and the call’s length — for more than 20 separate lines assigned to the AP and its reporters, according to the AP. 
 
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 reset AP exec editor: Never 'seen anything like this' GOP faces tough balance investigating Obama 
 
 Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren told POLITICO in an email that the DOJ’s seizure “sounds like a dragnet to intimidate the media,” not a criminal investigation. 
 
 (Also on POLITICO: Government seizes AP phone records) 
 
 “What is stunning is the breadth of the seizure!” Van Susteren said. “If you read the AP President’s letter to DOJ, and if his letter is accurate, the seizure was very broad: 2 months of telephone records involving many who work at AP! 20 phone lines, home and cell? NY, DC, Connecticut employees? That doesn’t sound like a criminal investigation, that sounds like a dragnet to intimidate the media. The US Attorney’s issued statement about the secret seizure was blah, blah, blah. It doesn’t say anything. The DOJ better be following the law and the Constitution.” 
 
 In a statement on Monday, the DOJ wrote “we take seriously our obligations to follow all applicable laws, federal regulations, and Department of Justice policies when issuing subpoenas for phone records of media organizations.” 
 
 “Those regulations require us to make every reasonable effort to obtain information through alternative means before even considering a subpoena for the phone records of a member of the media,” the statement read. “We must notify the media organization in advance unless doing so would pose a substantial threat to the integrity of the investigation. Because we value the freedom of the press, we are always careful and deliberative in seeking to strike the right balance between the public interest in the free flow of information and the public interest in the fair and effective administration of our criminal laws.” ||||| White House: 'No knowledge' of AP phone record seizure 
 
 By Justin Sink - 
 
 The White House on Monday distanced President Obama from the Department of Justice’s seizure of Associated Press telephone records. 
 
 “Other than press reports, we have no knowledge of any attempt by the Justice Department to seek phone records of the AP,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said in a statement. 
 
 Carney said the White House had no involvement in the Justice effort. 
 
 “We are not involved in decisions made in connection with criminal investigations, as those matters are handled independently by the Justice Department,” he said. 
 
 The Justice Department said in a letter to the AP on Friday that it had gathered records on at least 20 office, cell phone, and home phone numbers — including the AP's desk in the House of Representatives press gallery. 
 
 The AP believes the records seizure was related to a leak investigation regarding a 2012 story about the CIA foiling a bomb plot in Yemen. The Obama administration has aggressively investigated the disclosure of classified anti-terror information in recent years, subpoenaing journalists from The New York Times and The Washington Post. 
 
 In a letter of protest sent to Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday, AP President Gary Pruitt said there could be “no possible justification for such an overbroad collection of the telephone communications.” 
 
 “These records potentially reveal communications with confidential sources across all of the newsgathering activities undertaken by the AP during a two-month period, provide a road map to AP's newsgathering operations and disclose information about AP's activities and operations that the government has no conceivable right to know,” Pruitt said. 
 
 In a statement, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia said it was “always careful and deliberate” in deciding to target media organizations. 
 
 News of Justice seizing the records comes as the administration is already dealing with accusations the IRS abused its power by targeting conservative groups for tax audits. 
 
 The administration is also under attack for its handling of the Benghazi attack. 
 
 
 

– News that the government seized two months of phone records from the Associated Press has drawn blistering criticism of the White House from a wide variety of news organizations, Politico reports. Fox's Greta Van Susteren says the Justice Department's action "sounds like a dragnet to intimidate the media" instead of a criminal investigation, while CNN's John King said the move "sends a chilling message from the government to people in our business and the AP, I think, is justifiably outraged." AP chief Gary Pruitt says the seizure, which may have been related to a story about a thwarted al-Qaeda terror plot in Yemen, is "a massive and unprecedented intrusion by the Department of Justice into the newsgathering activities of the Associated Press." White House spokesman Jay Carney, meanwhile, did his best to distance President Obama from the scandal, the Hill reports. "We are not involved in decisions made in connection with criminal investigations, as those matters are handled independently by the Justice Department," he said in a statement.