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Corallo Blasts DOJ Reporter Subpoenas

By Jeralyn, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Thu Jun 01, 2006 at 09:00:35 AM EST
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Former DOJ spokesman Mark Corallo, now in his own consulting firm, has filed an affidavit with the Court hearing the motions to quash subpoenas served by the government on San Francisco Chronicle reporters in the baseball steroid case, saying that the subpoenas represent "a reckless abuse of power." Ashcroft, he says, never would have allowed them to be issued.

He said Mr. Ashcroft's successor, Alberto R. Gonzales, had acted improperly in issuing the subpoenas. "This is the most reckless abuse of power I have seen in years," Mr. Corallo said in an interview. "They really should be ashamed of themselves."

The subpoenas, part of an effort to identify The Chronicle's sources for its coverage of steroid use in baseball, would not have been authorized by Mr. Ashcroft, Mr. Corallo said. "You just don't ride roughshod over the rights of reporters to gather information from confidential sources," he added.

Corallo now represents Karl Rove.

The correct standard, according to Corallo, is:

"It has to be a matter of grave national security or impending physical harm to innocent people," he said, "not just, well, this is the only way we're going to be able to get this information."

Tom Maguire has more and suggests I call Corallo for a comment on whether he thinks the Valerie Plame investigation involves national security. Since I don't have time to do that today, I'll answer and say I think the Plame investigation definitely does involve national security. The subpoenas to the media were issued to determine if someone had leaked classfied information or intentionally disclosed the identity of an undercover CIA operative.

Also, the subpoenas being fought over now in the Libby case involve those issued by Libby, not the Government.

Tom's looking for Corallo's affidavit. I checked the docket late last night and even though the Northern District of California says it is now all electronic filing, there were no hotlinks to grab the documents.

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    Corallo Blasts DOJ Reporter Subpoenas | 1 comment (1 topical)
    Re: Corallo Blasts DOJ Reporter Subpoenas (none / 0) (#1)
    by scribe on Thu Jun 01, 2006 at 09:28:13 AM EST
    Or, as Will Bunch says, over at AttyTood: "When you've lost Karl Rove's flack, you've truly lost America"

    Corallo Blasts DOJ Reporter Subpoenas | 1 comment (1 topical)