Liberal news watchdog Media Matters issued talking points defending the Department of Justice for tapping the phones of reporters with the Associated Press on Wednesday morning.
"This case raises important questions about the balance between a free press and effective national security," Media Matters Action wrote in a blog post. "If the press compromised active counter-terror operations for a story that only tipped off the terrorists, that sounds like it should be investigated."
The DOJ monitoring controversy is just the latest scandal to strike the Obama administration in the last week. On Friday, IRS officials admitted that they had "inappropriately" targeted conservative and tea party groups applying for tax-exempt status.
USA Today reported on Wednesday that liberal groups "were given a pass" when applying for tax-exempt status, despite the fact that many liberal nonprofit organizations, including Media Matters and President Obama’s former super PAC, Organizing for America, receive substantial amounts of money from shadowy liberal groups that support the Democratic Party.
Media Matters receives an undisclosed amount of money from the dark money group known as the Democracy Alliance.
The Democracy Alliance, a collection of billionaires and millionaires, funnels millions of dollars each year into liberal groups without disclosing their membership in the group. Several of its members, including Hedge Fund manager George Soros, provided the start-up capital needed to make Media Matters one of the nation’s best-funded political nonprofits.
The Democracy Alliance in 2012 purged several progressive organizations that "tend to ... work outside the [Democratic] party's structure." Media Matters was not one of those groups.