The Nation - News from Aug. 21, 1989
Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh said federal authorities may examine journalists’ telephone records in seeking to trace “leaks.” He would not say whether he had sought such records, but told NBC TV’s “Meet the Press” that such a procedure would be constitutional. “. . . According to the Supreme Court . . . we would be well within constitutional bounds,” Thornburgh said, but he did not specify to which ruling he referred. He has ordered an inquiry into the source of reports that Rep. William H. Gray III (D-Pa.) was investigated shortly before his election as Democratic whip. Gray was interviewed by FBI agents, triggering reports he was under investigation, but the Justice Department later said that he was not the subject of an investigation.
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