The Department of Justice acquired Democratic lawmakers’ phone records as part of an investigation into congressional staffers suspected of leaking classified information to news outlets, not because they themselves were being singled out, according to people who briefed the Wall Street Journal.
The FBI probe looked to identify leakers of classified documents connected to the Trump campaign’s communications with Russia in 2016.
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Apple informed House Intelligence Committee members and their aides that the Trump Justice Department had subpoenaed the Cupertino, Calif. company for their communications records. The tech giant reported legal demands for information on 73 telephone numbers and 36 email addresses. Those 109 accounts included Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.).
Word of the inquiries enraged several Democrats who accused the Trump Justice Department of going after perceived enemies. Attorney General Merrick Garland has mandated a review of the agency’s processes for collecting information about elected officials and their staff.
“Our new attorney general has to find out,” said Rep. Schiff on CBS’s Face the Nation Sunday, calling the Justice Department’s actions “gross abuses” of its authority.
Former senior officials at DOJ, including then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions and deputy Rod Rosenstein, have said they were not aware of the subpoenas.
The Wall Street Journal quoted an intelligence committee member who said the DOJ had not cooperated with requests for an explanation and further information.
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“We are deeply concerned this [subpoena] may have been the result of the former president’s urging and the destructive politicization of the department during the Trump administration,” the official told the WSJ.