JOHNS: New details are surfacing that FOX News was aware years ago that the Justice Department was targeting one of its reporters in a leak investigation, raising questions about why FOX didn't reveal that, and why it's only objecting now. A law enforcement source tells CNN that the Justice Department notified a media organization almost three years ago of a subpoena for detailed telephone records. And a second source tells CNN, that organization was FOX News. It was part of an ongoing investigation of Steven Kemp, a former State Department worker, accused of unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information to FOX correspondent James Rosen. One law enforcement source told CNN, "In the investigation that led to the indictment of Steven Kim, the government issued subpoenas for toll records for five numbers associated with the media." Consistent with Department of Justice policies and procedures, the government provided notification of those subpoenas nearly three years ago by certified mail, facsimile and email. Up until now, the focus of this controversy has been on a search warrant for the personal emails of James Rosen. The network has indicated it learned of the warrant for the emails just recently. And newly-released court documents show the government was trying to keep the investigation under seal. But the claims of the law enforcement sources about the notice given about the subpoenaed phone records suggests FOX could have known at least that the Department of Justice was going after its phone records years ago. At the same time, that notice did not detail the extent of the investigation in which the government calls James Rosen a possible co-conspirator in a crime. CNN has reached out to FOX for comment, beginning Friday evening, but the network has not responded. FOX and other news organizations have been highly critical of the Justice Department's aggressive pursuit of leak investigations involving reporters. But if FOX knew about the subpoenas almost three years ago, as law enforcement suggests, the question is why the network is raising objections only now. Texts about drug use and pictures of a gun. Lawyers representing Florida teen, Trayvon Martin, say, they're irrelevant. Ahead, I'll ask a defense attorney how this new evidence could impact the trial of the man charged with murdering him.
FOX News Aware of Leak Investigation