More Trump admin corruption revealed

The US justice department under Donald Trump seized data from the accounts of at least two members of the House of Representatives intelligence committee in 2018 as part of an aggressive crackdown on leaks related to the Russia investigation and other national security matters, according to a committee official and two people familiar with the investigation.

[...]

The records of at least 12 people connected to the intelligence panel were eventually shared, including the chairman, Adam Schiff, who was then the top Democrat on the committee.

The California Democratic congressman Eric Swalwell was the second member, according to spokeswoman Natalie Edelstein. The records of aides, former aides and family members were also siezed, including one who was a minor, according to the committee official.

[...]

The records do not contain any other content from the devices, like photos, messages or emails, one of the other people said. The third person said that Apple complied with the subpoena, providing the information to the DoJ, and did not immediately notify the members of Congress or the committee about the disclosure.

[...]

Apple informed the committee last month that their records had been shared, but did not give extensive detail.

[...]

The panel has continued to seek additional information, but the department has not been forthcoming in a timely manner, including on questions such as whether the investigation was properly predicated and whether it only targeted Democrats, the committee official said.

It is unclear why Trump’s justice department would have targeted a minor as part of the investigation. Swalwell, confirming that he was told his records were seized, told CNN on Thursday evening that he was aware a minor was involved and “I believe they were targeted punitively and not for any reason in law.”

  Guardian

I expect that's true of all who were targeted.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:

UPDATE:

In a phone interview, Barr said he didn’t recall getting briefed on the moves.

[...]

Barr said that while he was attorney general, he was “not aware of any congressman’s records being sought in a leak case.” He added that Trump never encouraged him to zero in on the Democratic lawmakers who reportedly became targets of the former president's push to unmask leakers of classified information.

Trump "was not aware of who we were looking at in any of the cases,” Barr said. “I never discussed the leak cases with Trump. He didn’t really ask me any of the specifics.”

  Politico

Bullshit. "Didn't recall." "Didn't really ask." Waffles.

“This appalling politicization of the Department of Justice by Donald Trump and his sycophants must be investigated immediately by both the DOJ Inspector General and Congress,” Schumer and Durbin, the top two Democrats in the upper chamber, said in a joint statement, adding that the Judiciary Committee “will vigorously investigate this abuse of power.”

While Democrats control the panel, a subpoena would require the support of at least one GOP member because the committee is evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the committee’s top Republican, indicated on Friday that he opposes a congressional probe.

What a surprise.

“This appalling politicization of the Department of Justice by Donald Trump and his sycophants must be investigated immediately by both the DOJ Inspector General and Congress,” Schumer and Durbin, the top two Democrats in the upper chamber, said in a joint statement, adding that the Judiciary Committee “will vigorously investigate this abuse of power.” While Democrats control the panel, a subpoena would require the support of at least one GOP member because the committee is evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the committee’s top Republican, indicated on Friday that he opposes a congressional probe.

UPDATE:

[...]

The Justice Department secretly subpoenaed Apple in February 2018 for account information of then-White House Counsel Don McGahn, as well as his wife, and secured a gag order barring the company from telling them about it, according to a person familiar with the matter.

It is unclear what the Justice Department was investigating or whether prosecutors actually obtained any of McGahn's account information.

[...]

Apple informed the McGahns of the subpoena last month after the gag order expired. />It is highly unusual for the Justice Department to subpoena the records of a sitting White House counsel. The news of the subpoena, which was first reported by the New York Times, comes days after it emerged that the Trump-era Justice Department had also subpoenaed Apple for communications metadata of at least two Democratic members of the House Intelligence Committee, as well as current and former staff and family members as part of a leak investigation.

Those seizures are now under review by the Justice Department's inspector general. The two lawmakers who had their data seized were Reps. Adam Schiff, the committee's top Democrat, and Eric Swalwell.

[...]

While the Mueller investigation concluded in 2019, McGahn was called earlier this month to testify before the Democratic-led House Judiciary Committee following a protracted two-year legal battle. Testimony from that appearance was made public last week, and revealed the degree to which McGahn felt he was being pressured toward wrongdoing by Trump.

McGahn told the committee he was made particularly uneasy by Trump's repeated requests that he facilitate the dismissal of Mueller, who had been tasked with investigating possible ties between Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia.

  NPR

UPDATE:

The Department of Justice's (DOJ) top national security lawyer is resigning from his post amid revelations the department secretly sought the records of journalists and Democratic lawmakers, The Associated Press reported Monday.

John Demers, assistant attorney general of the DOJ's national security division, will leave by the end of next week, the news service reported.

  The Hill