Trump's DOJ secretly obtained records of his FBI pick Kash Patel, lawmakers, staffers and media in leak investigations

[underpants]

Source: CNN

The new report from the Justice Department’s inspector general raises concerns about how the department tried to root out reporters’ sources from a sprawling and bipartisan list of federal employees who had access to classified information because of their job.

Prosecutors also sought records including emails from journalists at CNN, The Washington Post and The New York Times, according to the report.

That’s because such a move “exposes congressional officials to having their records reviewed by the Department solely for conducting Congress’ constitutional authorized oversight duties and creating, at a minimum, the appearance of inappropriate interference by the executive branch in legitimate oversight activity by the legislative branch,” the inspector general added.


The report also notes the Justice Department obtained non-disclosure orders in 40 of the congressional cases, meaning that members and their staff were not aware their communications records had been seized. In seeking those orders, prosecutors were not required to say with any specificity whose records they were going after.


Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/10/politics/justice-department-spying-congress-patel-trump-ig-report/index.html