WASHINGTON – Prosecutors in the United States Justice Department (DoJ) under former president Donald Trump seized data from Apple on two Democratic lawmakers in the House Intelligence Committee, as well as that of their staff and family members, reported The New York Times yesterday.
Subpoenas for the communications metadata targeted congressman Adam Schiff of California, a Trump foe who was then the panel’s top Democrat and now its chairman.
The record seizures came in 2017 and early 2018 as DoJ investigated leaks of classified information relating to contacts between the Trump administration and Russian government, the paper reported.
Congressman Eric Swalwell told CNN yesterday that he was the second Democratic lawmaker in the committee targeted.
“I was notified... by Apple that they did seize my records. It’s wrong.”
One of the family members targeted was a minor, said NYT.
It said prosecutors working under then attorney-general Jeff Sessions made unusual efforts to find the source of the leaks of classified information.
DoJ officials targeted electronic data not only of the lawmakers, but also that of their staff and families, possibly targeting a minor because investigators thought the politicians were using their associates or children’s devices to hide contacts with journalists.
The department and Apple have yet to comment on the report.
Ultimately, none of the data or other evidence tied the lawmakers or committee to the leaks, said NYT.
But, the leak investigations were revived by attorney-general Bill Barr a year later, it added.
The seizure of such records has rarely been seen outside of corruption investigations.
‘Harrowing’
Schiff, while not confirming he was a target of the probe, called for an investigation by the DoJ inspector general into “this and other cases that suggest the weaponisation of law enforcement by a corrupt president”.
Trump “tried to use (DoJ) as a cudgel against his political opponents and members of the media. It is increasingly apparent that those demands did not fall on deaf ears”, he said in a statement.
Top Democrat Nancy Pelosi in a statement also called for an investigation, describing the NYT report as “harrowing”.
“These actions appear to be yet another egregious assault on our democracy waged by the former president.”
DoJ placed a gag order on Apple that expired this year, meaning lawmakers were unaware of the probes until the tech giant notified them last month, reported the paper.
Schiff, a leader in the Democratic impeachment team, has long railed against Trump, calling the latter “dangerous”.
He made the case early last year for Trump to be removed from office for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
Trump was subsequently impeached twice and defeated after a single term, but returned to the spotlight last week for his first speech in months, framing next year’s midterm elections as a battle for the “survival of America”.
The House of Representatives impeached him in 2019 for pressuring Ukraine to investigate his political opponents, dangling military aid to Kiev and a White House visit in return.
He was then acquitted in the Senate earlier this year on an impeachment charge for inciting the January 6 attack on the US Capitol by his supporters.
A two-thirds majority was needed in the 100-member Senate to convict Trump, but only 57 senators voted “guilty”.
Seven Republicans joined Democrats in the Senate in voting to convict the former president. – AFP, June 11, 2021
