DOJ seizure of House Democrats' data 'goes beyond Richard Nixon': Pelosi

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has criticized the Trump administration’s decision to secretly subpoena tech companies for records of at least two Democratic lawmakers as a move that “goes even beyond Richard Nixon.”

“In terms of the data mining, what the Republicans did, what the administration did, the Justice Department under the leadership of the former president, goes even beyond Richard Nixon,” Pelosi, a California Democrat, said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“Richard Nixon had an enemies list,” she said. “This is about undermining the rule of law.”

Pelosi’s comments come after The New York Times reported that the Justice Department under the administration of former President Donald Trump subpoenaed Apple for data on accounts belonging to at least two Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee, Chairman Adam Schiff and Rep. Eric Swalwell, their aides and their family members as part of an aggressive leak investigation in 2018.

Both Schiff and Swalwell were staunch critics of Trump’s presidency. Schiff served as lead prosecutor during Trump’s first Senate impeachment trial, while Swalwell was a prosecutor during the former president’s second impeachment trial.

Department of Justice says it will no longer secretly seize journalists’ records in leak probes

The US Justice Department has announced that it will no longer seize reporters’ records during leak investigations.

Pelosi charged on Sunday that the claims by two of Trump’s attorneys general, Bill Barr and Jeff Sessions, that they did not have any knowledge of the investigation were “beyond belief,” urging them to testify before Congress under oath.

“Attorneys General Barr and Sessions, at least two to say, that they didn't know anything about it, is beyond belief” she said. “How could it be that there could be an investigation of members in the other branch of government and the press and the rest too and the attorneys general did not know?” the speaker asked.

The investigation reportedly sought the source of leaks about contact between Trump associates and Russia. The Justice Department then issued a gag order against Apple and Microsoft to prevent them from notifying those whose accounts and data had been affected by the subpoenas.

Apple said in a statement that it did not know the probe involved the metadata of lawmakers when it complied with the subpoena.

In general, tech companies challenge such requests, but in this case, a grand jury and a federal judge forced Apple to comply. The gag order was dropped early in May, enabling Apple to alert the targeted users.

Internal watchdog to probe Trump-era secret seizure of Democratic lawmakers’ records

Donald Trump

In recent weeks, the Justice Department also notified journalists at three different new outlets that their records were sought in similar leak investigations in an attempt to identify their sources.

The department’s internal watchdog said on Friday it would investigate the matter.

DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz said Friday that his watchdog agency would look beyond subpoenas to “other legal authorities [used] to obtain communication records.”

While that step is important, Pelosi said, “it is not a substitute for what we must do in the Congress,” adding that she would push for an investigation into the issue in the lower chamber.

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