Erica Ritz at The Blaze reported former CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson told Glenn Beck about the latest document release forced by Judicial Watch, which demonstrates Obama's Department of Justice was working to squash Attkisson's reporting on the Obama administration.
Attkisson read from one of the documents, an October 4, 2011 e-mail from Tracy Schmaler, the top press aide for outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder, to White House Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz.
“I’m also calling Sharryl’s [sic] editor and reaching out to Schieffer. She is out of control,” Schmaler complained about Attkisson. "Good, her piece was really bad for the AG,” the White House deputy press secretary shot back.
Attkisson said she was reporting on the Fast and Furious scandal at the time. She also read that Schmaler 'O sent NJ's [National Journal's] Susan Davis your way. She's writing on Issa/FandF and I said you could load her up on the leaks, etc."
This is how journalism works. Reporters accept large chunks of information from friendly sources, in this case in writing an article against Issa. Davis wrote "Beyond its investigation of Fast and Furious, his committee hasn't recorded any big hits despite firing -- or misfiring -- at almost anything that moves."
“It’s what I say in the book. They use your tax dollars to pay their salaries, to spin us and target us,” Attkisson remarked. “If you dare to go after them, they will target you, try to assassinate your character, they’ll call your bosses, they e-mail. We know all of this is going on, but we now have e-mails that they’ve been withholding under executive privilege that refer to this.”
Conservative sites like The Daily Caller have reported Schmaler's attempts to demean reporters through liberal media "watchdog" groups.
Attkisson also talked about the attempt to manipulate her work computer. “I think the people who did this are cowards and bullies,” she said. “They’re afraid. They’re using surreptitious means and they’re — as I say in the book — like petulant schoolchildren stomping their feet against the exercise of reason. That’s how I see them.”
