Justice seeking leakers, but not reporters

WASHINGTON — Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, said Sunday the Justice Department was not pursuing reporters as part of its growing number of leak investigations, just two days after he and other department officials had appeared to signal a harsher line toward journalists.

“We don’t prosecute journalists for doing their jobs,” Rosenstein said on “Fox News Sunday.” “That’s not our goal here.”

He had declined to answer such a question Friday, telling reporters who asked whether the department would prosecute reporters that he would not “comment on any hypotheticals.”

Rosenstein’s appearance on Fox came two days after administration officials heralded a new and stiffer posture on government leaks, with Attorney General Jeff Sessions telling reporters that leak investigations had tripled under the Trump administration.

“We will not allow rogue anonymous sources with security clearances to sell out our country any longer,” Sessions said Friday at a news conference at the department. He said he had opened a review of department rules governing when investigators may issue subpoenas related to the news media on leaks.

On Sunday, Rosenstein sought to clarify Sessions’ position.

“The attorney general has been very clear that we’re after the leakers, not the journalist,” Rosenstein said on Fox. “We’re after the people who are committing crimes.”

But Rosenstein also called concerns over press freedom an “overreaction” and reiterated a statement Sessions made Friday, when the attorney general said reporters could not expect “unlimited” leeway in handling leaked material.

“They cannot place lives at risk with impunity,” Sessions said Friday.