WASHINGTON, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- Sharyl Attkisson, who said she left CBS because of the network's liberal bias, is seeking $35 million for alleged computer hacking by the Obama administration.
The lawsuit names the Justice Department and Postal Service as defendants along with unidentified U.S. government employees. Attkisson told Politico her computer was accessed when she was working on stories embarrassing to President Obama, including the Benghazi attack, the Fast and Furious weapons program and Obamacare.
"There is an administrative claim for illegal wiretapping and a lawsuit alleging constitutional violations," she said.
Attkisson worked for CBS for more than 20 years before her departure in March. At the time, she accused the network of liberal bias while sources there told Politico that her work had become "agenda-driven."
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The lawsuit was filed in federal court in the District of Columbia. She charged that computer forensics experts had discovered "certain violations of her constitutional rights based on information implicating the federal government in illegal electronic monitoring and surveillance of her home and business computers and phones from 2011 to 2013."
Attkisson also said the FBI investigated her allegations of computer hacking but never interviewed her.
Some doubts have been raised about Attkisson's charges. Media Matters for America, a liberal watchdog, found that Attkisson said in a book that a source had given her the name of the person behind the hacking but that she later said in an interview she did not know the name.
Max Fisher, a computer expert for Vox, after studying a video Attkisson said showed words being deleted from documents in her computer, said the problem was a stuck backspace key, not the U.S. government.
