New report A study from the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found that President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) secretly obtained phone call and text message records of 43 congressional staffers, two members of Congress in 2017 and 2018, and members of the media. Justice Department prosecutors obtained call records and text messages from telecom companies and third-party service providers including Apple through subpoenas, search warrants and court orders.
It is already known that President Trump’s Justice Department attempted to obtain communications records from Apple as part of an investigation into press leaks about stories of Trump associates contacting Russian officials. New York Times It reported in 2021 that one of the subpoenas filed in 2018 demanded access to the accounts of 109 identifiers including Democratic representatives Adam P. Schiff and Eric Swalwell of California, congressional aides and family members including someone who was a minor. Now it appears that the scope of these subpoenas was much greater.
The inspector general’s report says prosecutors attached gag orders to the subpoenas to prevent Apple and other companies from notifying their customers of the information orders. Most NDAs were extended at least once, and some extended to four years. Communications logs showed only the names of the parties involved in the calls and text messages.
Although the OIG report found no political motivation for prosecutors’ requests, it noted subpoenas and other legal means of obtaining communications records “risk undermining Congress’ ability to conduct oversight of the executive branch.” The report also says that the Ministry of Health failed to hold the meeting News Media Review Committeea Justice Department advisory committee formed as part of a sweeping overhaul of its news media policies in 2014, reviewed her requests for information and called her actions “troubling,” according to the report.
Apple also took steps to limit the scope of legal requests following news of the subpoenas filed against Reps. Schiff and Swalwell. Developed technology company Maximum 25 IDs For every legal request for customer contact information in 2021.