AP Demands FBI Never Again Impersonate Journalist

BY ERIC TUCKER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON – The Associated Press is demanding assurances that the FBI will never again impersonate a member of the news media.

The demand was made in a letter Monday from Gary Pruitt, the AP president and CEO, to FBI Director James Comey and Attorney General Eric Holder.

The letter comes days after Comey revealed that an FBI agent in Seattle in 2007 had portrayed himself as an AP journalist during an investigation into a teenager suspected of making bomb threats at a high school.

Comey said the technique was legal but likely would have required additional layers of approval today.

In the letter, Pruitt demanded to know who authorized the impersonation, the process that was followed for its approval and whether such operations are still being carried out.