Probes follow disclosure of Trump seizures of data
2 House Democrats target in 2018 leak investigation
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department’s internal watchdog launched an investigation Friday after revelations that former President Donald Trump’s administration secretly seized phone data from at least two House Democrats as part of an aggressive leaks probe. Democrats called the seizures “harrowing” and an abuse of power.
The announcement by Inspector General Michael Horowitz came shortly after Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco made the request for an internal investigation. Horowitz said he would examine whether the data subpoenaed by the Justice Department and turned over by Apple followed department policy and “whether any such uses, or the investigations, were based upon improper considerations.”
Horowitz said he would also investigate similar Trump-era seizures of journalists’ phone records.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and another Democratic member of the panel, California Rep. Eric Swalwell, said Apple notified them last month that their metadata had been subpoenaed and turned over to the Justice Department in 2018, as their committee was investigating the former president’s ties to Russia. Schiff was then the top Democrat on the panel, then led by Republicans.
While the Justice Department routinely investigates leaked information, including classified intelligence, subpoenaing the private information of members of Congress is extraordinarily rare. The disclosures, first reported by The New York Times, raise questions about what the Justice Department’s justification was for spying on another branch of government and whether it was done for political reasons.
In a statement, White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said the Trump administration’s conduct is “shocking” and “clearly fits within an appalling trend that represents the opposite of how authority should be used.”
Bates said one of President Joe Biden’s top reasons for seeking the presidency was “his predecessor’s unjustifiable abuses of power, including the repugnant ways he tried to force his political interests upon the Department of Justice.”
The Trump administration’s secretive move to gain access to the data came as the president was fuming publicly and privately over investigations — in Congress and by then-special counsel Robert Mueller — into his campaign’s ties to Russia. Trump called the probes a “witch hunt.” As the investigations swirled around him, he demanded loyalty from a Justice Department he seemed to regard as his personal law firm.
Swalwell and Schiff were two of the most visible Democrats on the committee during the Russia probe, making frequent appearances on cable news. Schiff said the seizures suggest “the weaponization of law enforcement by a corrupt president” and urged the Justice Department to do “a full damage assessment of the conduct of the department over the last four years.”
Senate Democratic leaders immediately demanded that former Attorneys General Bill Barr and Jeff Sessions, who both oversaw Trump’s leak probes, testify about the secret subpoenas. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin said in a statement that “this appalling politicization of the Department of Justice by Donald Trump and his sycophants” must be investigated. They said Barr and Sessions are subject to a subpoena if they refuse to testify.
Prosecutors from Trump’s Justice Department had subpoenaed Apple for the data, according to a committee official and two other people familiar with the matter. The records of at least 12 people connected to the intelligence panel were eventually shared by the company, including aides, former aides and family members. One was a minor.
The Justice Department obtained the metadata — often records of calls, texts and locations — but not other content from the devices, like photos, messages or emails, according to one of the people. Another said that Apple complied with the subpoena, providing the information to the Justice Department, but did not immediately notify the members of Congress or the committee about the disclosure.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement that the data seizures “appear to be yet another egregious assault on our democracy” by the former president.
“The news about the politicization of the Trump Administration Justice Department is harrowing,” she said.