Fox News responded to the revelation that the FBI investigated Fox reporter James Rosen and obtained records of his emails and calls, calling it “downright chilling.”
The statement comes after it was revealed that the Department of Justice conducted an investigation into how Rosen, the chief Washington correspondent for Fox News, was able to report on classified intelligence on North Korea in 2009.
“We are outraged to learn today that James Rosen was named a criminal co-conspirator for simply doing his job as a reporter,” Michael Clemente, the executive vice president of news at Fox News, said. “In fact, it is downright chilling. We will unequivocally defend his right to operate as a member of what up until now has always been a free press.”
The Washington Post reports that investigators suspected that Rosen was given classified information by a State Department adviser named Stephen Jin-Woo Kim.
In an application for the search warrant for Rosen’s emails, the FBI said “there is probable cause to believe” Rosen is an “aider and abettor and/or co-conspirator” in the leak.
The Post reported Sunday that the FBI obtained his security badge access records at the State Department, looked at records of his calls with a Kim and even went through his personal e-mails.