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MSNBC: New report shows the lengths Trump's DOJ went to quash leaks
MSNBC - New report shows the lengths Trump’s DOJ went to quash leaks
During his first term, Trump was obsessed with the idea of jailing people he thought were out to get him. Now, even before he’s sworn in, he’s at it again.
Dec. 11, 2024, 3:49 PM EST
By Ayman Mohyeldin
As Donald Trump prepares to take the oath of office in just over a month, we are learning new details about how his Justice Department spied on his perceived enemies the last time he was president. According to a new report from the department’s inspector general, the Trump-era DOJ secretly obtained phone and text message logs of 43 congressional staffers and two members of Congress in 2017 and 2018.
The inspector general found the Trump administration gave “at a minimum, the appearance of inappropriate interference” when it spied on two Democratic members of Congress. They were current Sen. Adam Schiff of California, who at the time was the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, and fellow California Rep. Eric Swalwell, who sat on that committee.
Tuesday’s IG report also found that the Trump Justice Department “violated its own policies in the way it secretly obtained phone and text records from reporters in the same leak investigations.”
Now, we knew a bit of this before but not the details or the depth of this effort. In fact, the IG investigation was opened three years ago, after The New York Times first reported that the Trump Justice Department had secretly spied on Schiff, Swalwell, congressional staffers and journalists from the Times, Washington Post and CNN in an effort to find leakers.
The spying began under then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, as multiple news outlets reported on the Trump campaign’s connections to Russia, including intelligence that had been classified at the time. Obtaining the records of sitting members of Congress was troubling enough but the spying was turbocharged under Sessions’ successor, William Barr.
/snip
During his first term, Trump was obsessed with the idea of jailing people he thought were out to get him. Now, even before he’s sworn in, he’s at it again.
Dec. 11, 2024, 3:49 PM EST
By Ayman Mohyeldin
As Donald Trump prepares to take the oath of office in just over a month, we are learning new details about how his Justice Department spied on his perceived enemies the last time he was president. According to a new report from the department’s inspector general, the Trump-era DOJ secretly obtained phone and text message logs of 43 congressional staffers and two members of Congress in 2017 and 2018.
The inspector general found the Trump administration gave “at a minimum, the appearance of inappropriate interference” when it spied on two Democratic members of Congress. They were current Sen. Adam Schiff of California, who at the time was the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, and fellow California Rep. Eric Swalwell, who sat on that committee.
Tuesday’s IG report also found that the Trump Justice Department “violated its own policies in the way it secretly obtained phone and text records from reporters in the same leak investigations.”
Now, we knew a bit of this before but not the details or the depth of this effort. In fact, the IG investigation was opened three years ago, after The New York Times first reported that the Trump Justice Department had secretly spied on Schiff, Swalwell, congressional staffers and journalists from the Times, Washington Post and CNN in an effort to find leakers.
The spying began under then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, as multiple news outlets reported on the Trump campaign’s connections to Russia, including intelligence that had been classified at the time. Obtaining the records of sitting members of Congress was troubling enough but the spying was turbocharged under Sessions’ successor, William Barr.
/snip
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