Surprised in this otherwise excellent obit of legendary journalist Neil Sheehan, the @nytimes didn't mention that the Nixon admin tried to charge Sheehan and his wife Susan under the Espionage Act *after* the Pentagon Papers Supreme Court case.

The Pentagon Papers Supreme Court ruling is, of course, a landmark First Amendment opinion. But it's bizarre to me that the Nixon admin actually tried to *criminally charge* Sheehan for his reporting, and the case is almost lost to history.
One of the only descriptions of the Espionage Act grand jury investigation into Neil Sheehan, besides in the @nytimes archives, is this 2011 @DailyBeast piece by former NYT general counsel James Goodale. It is an absolutely remarkable story. https://t.co/lHs7svzhJr
After Nixon lost the Pentagon Papers Supreme Court case, he was enraged and still wanted the NYT prosecuted. While @DanielEllsberg's grand jury was happening in LA, federal prosecutors opened up an investigation into Sheehan in Boston for "conspiracy to violate the Espionage Act"
The grand jury investigating both Sheehan and his wife Susan, who was a writer at the @NewYorker, subpoenaed several famous journalists and academics, including David Halberstam, Noam Chomsky, and Howard Zinn. https://t.co/lHs7svzhJr
The @nytimes was so sure Sheehan was going to get charged, it drafted a statement condemning the indictment that never came. The only reason it didn't? The journalists and academics subpoenaed almost universally refused to comply. https://t.co/SHnRVFlmXb
This is yet another reason why it's vital for reporters to oppose the US government's case against Julian Assange. He's charged with the same crime Nixon tried to go after Sheehan with. Given the opportunity, future presidents will try try the same thing. https://t.co/lHs7svzhJr
Basically the only other place online you can read details. about the grand jury investigating reporter Neil Sheehan for "conspiracy to violate the Espionage Act" is in the @nytimes archives from the early 1970s. https://t.co/pARSV1ULIa https://t.co/VUNLkcXSHM
You can also read about this forgotten, yet incredibly important, aspect of the Pentagon Papers case in Sanford Ungar's excellent book "The Papers and the Papers." Unfortunately it's out of print, so it's hard to come by. https://t.co/hT3lmqtXzW

More from Politics

Trump is gonna let the Mueller investigation end all on it's own. It's obvious. All the hysteria of the past 2 weeks about his supposed impending firing of Mueller was a distraction. He was never going to fire Mueller and he's not going to


Mueller's officially end his investigation all on his own and he's gonna say he found no evidence of Trump campaign/Russian collusion during the 2016 election.

Democrats & DNC Media are going to LITERALLY have nothing coherent to say in response to that.

Mueller's team was 100% partisan.

That's why it's brilliant. NOBODY will be able to claim this team of partisan Democrats didn't go the EXTRA 20 MILES looking for ANY evidence they could find of Trump campaign/Russian collusion during the 2016 election

They looked high.

They looked low.

They looked underneath every rock, behind every tree, into every bush.

And they found...NOTHING.

Those saying Mueller will file obstruction charges against Trump: laughable.

What documents did Trump tell the Mueller team it couldn't have? What witnesses were withheld and never interviewed?

THERE WEREN'T ANY.

Mueller got full 100% cooperation as the record will show.

You May Also Like