James Rosen, the journalist who was investigated by Obama’s Justice Department, is departing Fox News after 18 years at the network.
Rosen has been with Fox News since 1999, just three years after the channel launched, but is leaving at the end of the year.
“James Rosen is exiting the company at the end of the year,” a Fox News spokesperson told TVNewser.
It was revealed in 2013 that the FBI was investigating Rosen and had obtained records of his phone calls and emails after he reported on classified intelligence in North Korea in 2009. Fox called the investigation “downright chilling.” (RELATED: Fox News calls FBI investigation of reporter ‘downright chilling’)
“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 at the time. “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 investigators in the case believed Rosen had obtained classified information from a State Department adviser and had “probable cause” to believed Rosen was an “aider and abettor and/or co-conspirator” in the leak. The DOJ accused Rosen of using flattery to obtain documents from the adviser, which critics said conflated standard journalistic practices with illegality.
The case was indicative of the Obama Justice Department cracking down on leaks to reporters, and some argued it had a chilling affect on speech and press freedom. (RELATED: Justice Department investigated Fox News reporter)
Search warrants like these have a severe chilling effect on the free flow of important information to the public,” First Amendment lawyer Charles Tobin told the Washington Post in 2013. “That’s a very dangerous road to go down.”