The IEA blames the Trump-era Justice Department for subpoenas to Congress and the media during the Russia investigation

The US Department of Justice’s internal watchdog said on Tuesday that prosecutors’ decision to subpoena phone and email records of members of Congress and their staff during President-elect Donald Trump’s first term could have a chilling effect on congressional oversight.

The department’s Office of Inspector General found that records were subpoenaed from two Democratic members of Congress and 43 staffers, split almost evenly between Democrats and Republicans, as prosecutors investigated leaks of classified information to the media in 2017 and 2018.

The subpoenas came shortly after The Washington Post in July 2017 reported on a meeting between then-Russian ambassador to the United States Sergei Kislyak and Trump campaign adviser Jeff Sessions to discuss Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

The article cited intelligence intercepts as a source of information to confirm that the meeting took place.

Among the 43 employees whose records were searched was Cash Patel, Trump’s pick for FBI director, who at the time was working with Republican Devin Nunes on the House Intelligence Committee. Patel was later notified about the subpoena by Google and sued the FBI and Department of Justice over it.

Democratic Representative Adam Schiff, the former Chairman of the Intelligence Committee who was elected to the Senate last month, and Representative Eric Swalwell, a member of the Committee, revealed earlier that their records had been subpoenaed.

The investigations began at a time when Trump, who will return to power on January 20, criticized media leaks about alleged ties between his 2016 election campaign and the Russian government.

A 2017 US intelligence report stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin ran a sophisticated influence campaign to discredit Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and support Trump in the 2016 race for the White House. The Kremlin has denied interference and Trump has denied any collusion with Russia during that campaign.

Trump pledged to use the Justice Department to prosecute his political opponents and officials who investigated him during his second term.

The New York Times reported that four of its reporters had their information subpoenaed over a report on former FBI Director James Comey’s handling of investigations during the 2016 campaign.

While the agency’s investigation found no evidence of political motivation, it concluded that “dozens of congressional staffers became part of the pool of subjects in a federal criminal investigation for doing nothing more than performing constitutionally authorized oversight of the executive branch.”

The report concluded that the subpoenas created at least “the appearance of improper interference” by the Justice Department in the work of Congress.

Congressional committees conducted their own investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election, and often had access to classified information as part of their oversight work.

No charges were brought as a result of the investigations, which the report found are now closed.

Media records sought

Prosecutors also obtained emails or phone records from eight reporters at three major news outlets — The New York Times, The Washington Post and CNN — as part of those investigations, according to the report.

The subpoenas were issued to third-party technology and phone companies, and in most cases did not include the substance of the calls or messages, according to the report.

The plaintiffs obtained court orders that, in some cases, prevented reporters or employees from knowing that their information had been subpoenaed for years.

Inspector General Michael Horowitz determined that the Department of Justice did not follow some of its policies intended to protect journalists from involvement in criminal investigations.

The Justice Department did not convene a special committee to review requests for information about reporters, and in one case did not obtain the required certification from a US intelligence official.

The Justice Department changed its policy in 2021 to broadly bar prosecutors from subpoenaing journalists’ phone and email records after an outcry over its actions during the Trump-era leak investigations.

The Justice Department in September updated its policy on requesting records from members of Congress or their staff after reviewing a draft report.

The revised policy requires investigators to obtain approval from the US Attorney and the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section, which handles investigations of political figures.