FBI questions four reporters in AIPAC case

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/576265.html


Last update - 09:20 16/05/2005


FBI questions four reporters in AIPAC case

By Nathan Guttman, Haaretz Correspondent

WASHINGTON - The Federal Bureau of Investigation has begun questioning reporters who had contact with Pentagon official Lawrence Franklin, who has been charged with disclosing classified information to officials of the AIPAC pro-Israeli lobby in the United States, The New York Times reported Saturday.

Sources close to the investigation told the paper that four reporters have been questioned so far - at least one print journalist and others who have been published on Internet sites.







The affidavit that accompanied the complaint filed against Franklin in a federal court in Virginia mentions charges of conveying classified information to members of the media, but does not detail those accusations. Investigators want to determine whether the reporters in
question did indeed received classified information from Franklin when he served as a data analyst at the Pentagon's Middle East desk.

It is not illegal for a reporter to receive classified information, but conveying such information is a crime in the U.S., one that Franklin allegedly committed.

The four reporters were asked to submit voluntarily to interviews by FBI investigators, without having to be subpoenaed. Should they refuse, the federal grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia that has been convened to investigate the case has the authority to subpoena them



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Four reporters??? Any ideas on WHO???