Trump DOJ seized phone records from New York Times journalists reporting on Comey leak investigation | Washington Examiner

The New York Times revealed the Justice Department beneath the Trump administration obtained phone records from 4 of its reporters, making it the third information outlet to announce related seizures from its journalists following the Washington Post and CNN.

Like with the prior revelations, the Justice Department declined to share what was the topic of investigation, however the New York Times reported on Wednesday that regulation enforcement seized phone records from Jan. 14 to April 30, 2017 from 4 reporters — Matt Apuzzo, Adam Goldman, Eric Lichtblau, and Michael S. Schmidt — at a time once they had been reporting on former FBI Director James Comey and his dealing with of the Hillary Clinton e mail inquiry. The report additionally famous that the Justice Department obtained court docket authority to acquire logs, however not the contents, of those reporters’ emails, however the authorities stated “no records had been obtained.”

“Seizing the phone records of journalists profoundly undermines press freedom. It threatens to silence the sources we rely on to supply the general public with important details about what the federal government is doing.” stated Dean Baquet, govt editor of the New York Times.

The New York Times report famous “the lineup of reporters and the timing urged that the leak investigation associated to categorized data reported in an April 22, 2017 article the 4 reporters wrote” about how Comey, who was fired by President Donald Trump in May 2017, dealt with controversial 2016 investigations as head of the FBI.

“Today, the Department of Justice notified 4 journalists that it obtained their phone toll records and sought to acquire non-content e mail records from 2017 as a part of a felony investigation into the unauthorized disclosure of categorized data,” Anthony Coley, the DOJ director of public affairs and a senior adviser to Attorney General Merrick Garland, advised the Washington Examiner. “The records at difficulty had been sought in 2020 beneath Department rules that apply to records of members of the information media, and the journalists had been neither topics nor targets of the investigation. Forthcoming annual public experiences from the Department masking 2019 and 2020 will point out that members of the information media have now been notified in each occasion on this interval by which their records had been sought or obtained in such circumstances.”

President Joe Biden condemned this observe in May, telling reporters, “Absolutely, positively it is unsuitable. It’s merely, merely unsuitable. I can’t let that occur.”

In its April 2017 article, the New York Times contended that “throughout Russia’s hacking marketing campaign in opposition to the United States, intelligence companies may peer, at occasions, into Russian networks and see what had been taken” and that in early 2016 “FBI brokers obtained a batch of hacked paperwork,” together with a doubtful Russian intelligence doc that was stated to have factored into how Comey dealt with the FBI investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s e mail server.

The outlet stated Comey “sought recommendation from somebody he has trusted for a few years” and “dispatched his deputy to fulfill with” longtime DOJ official David Margolis, who died from coronary heart points shortly thereafter. Citing a former official, the report stated “a while after that assembly, Mr. Comey started speaking to his advisers about asserting the tip of the Clinton investigation himself.”

The New York Times on Wednesday cited “three individuals briefed on that investigation” associated to Comey, which it stated was code-named “Arctic Haze.” The report stated the Justice Department seemed into whether or not Comey may very well be charged with disclosing his personal discussions with Trump and whether or not the previous FBI chief was concerned with leaking the existence of the Russia doc. The FBI subpoenaed Google for data on emails between the New York Times and Daniel Richman, a Columbia University regulation professor who leaked the contents of a few of what Comey’s memos documenting his discussions with Trump, the report added.

The report stated that “by November 2020, some prosecutors felt that the FBI had not discovered proof that might help any prices in opposition to Mr. Comey, and so they mentioned whether or not the investigation must be closed” and in early 2021 “prosecutors had been knowledgeable that the FBI was not prepared to shut the case — partially as a result of brokers nonetheless needed to interview” Comey. The New York Times report stated “the FBI requested Mr. Comey’s lawyer whether or not he could be prepared to take a seat down for an interview” final month nevertheless it was “a request that Mr. Comey declined.”

Lawyers representing Comey in a lawsuit introduced by Trump marketing campaign affiliate Carter Page declined to remark.

In January 2020, it was reported that federal prosecutors had been investigating a yearsold leak to the media in regards to the doubtful Russian intelligence doc that was stated to have been obtained by hackers working for Dutch intelligence officers and offered to the FBI. This doc reporedly included what gave the impression to be an e mail between Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who was the Democratic National Committee chairwoman on the time, and Leonard Benardo, an official with George Soros’s Open Society Foundations, by which the previous urged that then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch would guarantee Clinton wouldn’t be prosecuted for her use of a non-public e mail server to conduct authorities enterprise.

Both Wasserman Schultz and Benardo have denied being in touch, elevating the prospect that the doc was pretend.

Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley requested Comey in regards to the doc in 2017. “The topic is classed, and in an acceptable discussion board I’d be pleased to temporary you on it,” Comey replied.

In his memoir, A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership, Comey stated “unverified” data found by the U.S. authorities in 2016 from a categorized supply “would undoubtedly have been utilized by political opponents to solid critical doubt on the legal professional normal’s independence in reference to the Clinton investigation.”

Also weighing on his thoughts when holding his July 2016 press convention when he acknowledged the FBI advisable prices not be pressed in opposition to Clinton, in keeping with Comey, was how Lynch requested him to name the investigation a “matter” and the controversial June 27, 2016, tarmac assembly Lynch had with former President Bill Clinton.

Lynch denied ever coordinating with Democrats on a message for the emails investigation through an April 2018 statement.

In a report released within the fall of 2019, Comey was harshly criticized by the Justice Department inspector normal for violating FBI coverage for his efforts to reveal notes memorializing his conversations with Trump with out authorization within the hopes of sparking a particular counsel investigation.

DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz mentioned this alleged doc in his June 2018 report on the FBI’s dealing with of the Clinton e mail investigation, noting, “As mentioned in additional element within the categorized appendix to this report, Comey advised the OIG that the FBI had obtained extremely categorized data in March 2016 that included allegations of partisan bias or makes an attempt to impede the Midyear investigation by Lynch.”

“Numerous witnesses we interviewed — together with Comey — stated that the FBI assessed that these allegations weren’t credible based mostly on varied components, together with that a few of the data was objectively false. For instance, the knowledge additionally urged that Comey was making an attempt to affect the investigation by extending it to assist Republicans win the election, which witnesses stated the FBI knew was not true,” Horowitz wrote. “By mid-June 2016, the FBI had obtained no data corroborating the Lynch-related allegations. When requested about this data, Comey acknowledged that he knew it was not credible on its face as a result of it was not constant along with his private expertise with Lynch… However, Comey stated that he turned involved that the details about Lynch would taint the general public’s notion of the Midyear investigation if it leaked, significantly after DCLeaks and Guccifer 2.0 started releasing hacked emails in mid-June 2016.”

Last month, the Justice Department said its leaders deliberate to fulfill with reporters to debate a current flurry of notices about secret records seizures throughout the Trump administration that has prompted alarm within the media trade.

The assertion got here after a CNN Pentagon correspondent was notified prosecutors sought and obtained her phone and e mail records from the summer time of 2017 by the courts final yr. This adopted a trio of Washington Post reporters being notified of similar seizures final yr by use of subpoena energy.

The letters despatched to every of the reporters stated that prosecutors obtained “non-content” data, that means that senders, recipients, and time stamps could be disclosed, however not the content material of their conversations.

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William Barr, who was legal professional normal all through 2020 till simply earlier than Christmas, has declined remark to a number of retailers in regards to the state of affairs. During Senate testimony in May 2019, he said the Justice Department had “a number of felony leak investigations underway” associated to the dealing with of the Trump-Russia investigation.

Grassley, an Iowa Republican, sent a letter to the Justice Department in January demanding a proof in regards to the reported ending of an investigation into the leak of doubtless categorized data from former White House nationwide safety adviser Michael Flynn’s calls with a Russian ambassador to the media.

The Justice Department beforehand defended the method by which it could search such records for a felony leaks investigation.

“While uncommon, the Department follows the established procedures inside its media tips coverage when in search of authorized course of to acquire phone toll records and non-content e mail records from media members as a part of a felony investigation into unauthorized disclosure of categorized data,” Marc Raimondi, a spokesman for the Justice Department, advised the Washington Post final month.

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