In an interview with The Daily Caller, journalist Audrey Hudson revealed that the Department of Homeland Security and Maryland State Police were involved in a predawn raid of her Shady Side, Md. home on Aug. 6. Hudson is a former Washington Times reporter and current freelance reporter.
A search warrant obtained by TheDC indicates that the August raid allowed law enforcement to search for firearms inside her home.
The document notes that her husband, Paul Flanagan, was found guilty in 1986 to resisting arrest in Prince George’s County. The warrant called for police to search the residence they share and seize all weapons and ammunition because he is prohibited under the law from possessing firearms.
But without Hudson’s knowledge, the agents also confiscated a batch of documents that contained information about sources inside the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration, she said.
Outraged over the seizure, Hudson is now speaking out. She said no subpoena for the notes was presented during the raid and argues the confiscation was outside of the search warrant’s parameter.
“They took my notes without my knowledge and without legal authority to do so,” Hudson said this week. “The search warrant they presented said nothing about walking out of here with a single sheet of paper.”
...Hudson said she wants to let her sources know that they may have been exposed.
“Part of the reason I’m coming forward with this is I’m scared to contact them,” she said. “I’m terrified to contact them… I’ve got to let these guys know somehow.”
◼ Police State: Feds Raid Investigative Reporter @AudreyHudson, Seize Notes - The Other McCain
◼ Federal Agents Seize Story Notes from Investigative Reporter’s Home - Bryan Preston/PJMedia
◼ Chilling: Reporter's confidential notes seized in firearms raid by Feds - Rick Moran/American Thinker
There is a war on journalists being waged by government. It doesn't matter if they're liberal or conservative, only that what they publish displeases someone in Washington.
◼ This from a CNN reporter:
On Wednesday morning, CNN Newsroom anchor Carol Costello made a rather stunning, if cryptic, revelation. In discussing the firing of national security official Jofi Joseph, Costello agreed with panelist Jason Johnson that the Obama administration can be thin-skinned, and said that "President Obama's people can be quite nasty. They don't like you to say anything bad about their boss, and they're not afraid to use whatever means they have at hand to stop you from doing that, including threatening your job."Journalists in Chicago routinely put up with this sort of thing from Democratic politicians. It goes with the territory. It shouldn't shock us, then, that these tactics have migrated to Washington with President Obama.
Johnson's reaction to the firing was that "we had to see more of the tweets. It's kind of inappropriate, so I can understand him being fired. But the Obama administration is very thin-skinned." (HT/ Ed lasky)
◼ Armed agents seize records of reporter, Washington Times prepares legal action - Guy Taylor/Washington Times
The warrant, obtained by the Times, offered no specific permission to seize reporting notes or files.
The Washington Times said Friday it is preparing legal action to fight what it called an unwarranted intrusion on the First Amendment....
David W. Fischer, a private attorney contacted by the couple, says that the raid is a potential violation of Mrs. Hudson’s constitutional rights.
“Obviously, the warrant is about a gun, nothing about reporters notes,” he said. “It would be a blatant constitutional violation to take that stuff if the search warrant didn’t specifically say so.”
“This is a situation where they picked very specifically through her stuff and took documents that the Coast Guard, or the Department of Homeland Security, would be very interested in,” he added.
The raid could constitute illegal search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment — and the fact that the materials were related to her work as a reporter could First Amendment freedom of the press protections.
