President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) secreted phone and text records of two Congressional staffers and 43 members of Congress in 2017 and 2018, according to a new Office of Inspector General (OIG) report. It turned out that he had obtained it secretly. news media. Justice Department prosecutors obtained call and text logs from telecommunications companies and third-party providers, including Apple, through subpoenas, search warrants, and court orders.
It is already known that President Trump’s Justice Department sought to obtain communications records from Apple as part of a leak investigation into reports that Trump associates had contacts with Russian officials. The New York Times reported in 2021 that one of the subpoenas filed in 2018 involved California Democratic congressmen Adam B. Schiff and Eric Swalwell, a congressional aide, and family members, including minors. It was reported that the bank requested to view the accounts of 109 people who had identified themselves. Now, those subpoenas appear to have been much broader in scope.
The IG report said prosecutors attached gag orders to the subpoenas to prevent Apple and other companies from notifying customers about the information orders. Most non-disclosure agreements are extended at least once, some for up to four years. The communication logs recorded only the names of the parties involved in the calls and text messages.
Although the OIG report found no political motive in the prosecutor’s request, it said subpoenas and other legal means of obtaining communication logs “risk chilling Congress’ ability to oversee the executive branch.” pointed out. The report also found the DOH did not convene the News Media Review Board, an advisory committee to the Department of Justice that was established in 2014 as part of an overhaul of news media policy, calling the department’s actions “alarming.” The report also states that the government did not consider requests for information on the matter. .
Apple also took steps to limit the scope of its legal requests following news of subpoenas filed against Reps. Schiff and Swalwell. The technology company set a limit of 25 identifiers per legal request for customer communications information in 2021.
