Obama's Lawyers Don't Want Court to See 'Zero Dark Thirty'

The Obama administration seemed rather keen on every American seeing the movie version of the hunt for Osama bin Laden.

After all, documents obtained earlier this year by Judicial Watch showed how eager administration officials were to help the filmmakers behind what would become “Zero Dark Thirty” – a film originally slated to debut before the recent presidential election.

Now, lawyers working on the administration’s behalf hope the court overseeing the case behind the movie’s alleged intel leaks skips the movie entirely. Judicial Watch’s Tom Fitton released a statement concerning the curious change of heart:

Obama lawyers, however, are trying to dissuade the judge from actually watching the film. According to an Obama administration court filing filed earlier this week: “…the CIA and DOD disagree with [Judicial Watch’s] implication that the Court needs to view the movie to decide this case…The CIA and DOD therefore would oppose any additional attempts by plaintiff to extend the briefing of this case until the movie’s release.”

What could the film hold that would damage the government’s case? Fitton has more to say on the matter:

The key question is this: Why did the Obama administration share allegedly sensitive information with filmmakers that, if known, could harm national security!? The Obama administration can’t have it both ways. Either the information was too sensitive to share with the filmmakers, and the Obama administration was in error, or the information is not sensitive and should therefore be released.

Certainly the movie itself could provide some hints about what the Obama administration leaked to the filmmakers. In my view, the fact that the Obama administration doesn’t want the court to consider the movie is a good indication that the court should do exactly the opposite.