Jake Tapper Slams DOJ Spox for Praising ‘Gutsy’ Ferguson Reporters

Today, it’s extremely popular to praise the actions of Ryan Reilly and Wesley Lowery, two reporters arrested while attempting to cover the overwhelmingly forceful police crackdown of protests in Ferguson, MO. One of the men praising their heroic actions was Brian Fallon, a current spokesman for the Department of Justice, who tweeted the following.

Let us repeat: he is a spokesman for the Department of Justice.

DOJ is lucky to have a gutsy reporter like @Ryanjreilly on our beat. We knew that even before tonight. Glad he and @WesleyLowery are ok.

— Brian Fallon (@brianefallon) August 14, 2014

To which a testy Jake Tapper replied:

.@brianefallon how do you distinguish between the "gutsy" reporters and the one the administration is threatening to put in jail?

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) August 14, 2014

Tapper later tweeted that he was referring to the case of James Risen, a New York Times reporter being aggressively prosecuted by the Department of Justice for not revealing his sources in his 2005 book, “State of War.” The book painted a damning portrait of a “botched CIA mission in Iran,” and thanks to a recent Supreme Court decision, Risen faces jail time if he does not comply with a subpoena to confirm who leaked the story.

The only other thing he said was this:

"I should like to be able to love my country and still love justice." -Camus

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) August 14, 2014

[Image via Washington Post/Screenshot]

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