AP CEO calls records seizure unconstitutional

Pruitt says chill already felt

Gary Pruitt, the President and CEO of the Associated Press, discusses the leak investigation that led to his reporters' phone records being subpoenaed by the Justice Department on CBS's 'Face the Nation' in Washington.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Gary Pruitt, the President and CEO of the Associated Press, discusses the leak investigation that led to his reporters' phone records being subpoenaed by the Justice Department on CBS's 'Face the Nation' in Washington.

WASHINGTON  — The president and CEO of The Associated Press says the government’s seizure of AP journalists’ phone records was “unconstitutional” and already has had a chilling effect on newsgathering.

Gary Pruitt says the Justice Department’s secret subpoena of reporters’ phone records has made sources less willing to talk to AP journalists.

The Justice Department disclosed the seizure of two months of phone records in a letter the AP received May 10. The letter did not state a reason, but prosecutors had said they were conducting a leaks investigation into how the AP learned about an al-Qaida bomb plot in Yemen before it was made public last year. Pruitt said the AP story contradicted the government’s claim at the time there was no terrorist plot.

Pruitt spoke on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”