Tue May 14, 2013 AT 11:38 AM EDT
The Associated Press revealed Monday that Obama’s Justice Department secretly obtained two months of reporter and editor phone records from the spring of 2012, the latest and most illustrative example of the Obama administration’s unprecedented war on leaks. AP president and chief executive officer Gary Pruitt wrote in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday that “there can be no possible justification for such an overbroad collection of the telephone communications of The Associated Press and its reporters,” The Huffington Post is reporting. Pruitt demanded the DOJ return the records and destroy any copies. The Justice Department seized records for more than 20 telephone lines from April and May 2012. Meanwhile, journalist turned Congressman, Rep. Trey Radel, slammed the DOJ seizure, saying — “It’s appalling, it’s the most disgusting use of authority we’ve seen in a while,” according to BuzzFeed.