Report: DOJ Caught Snooping on Congress, Trump Staff During GOP Investigation of FBI - Here Are the Docs
The Department of Justice allegedly spied on the House Intelligence Committee officials to find out what they knew about the FBI’s wrongdoings in their Russia collusion probe, according to documents obtained by Just the News.
The outlet reported that the DOJ used grand jury subpoenas to obtain email and phone data of at least two House Intelligence Committee investigators who were working to collect evidence of FBI abuses in their probe of Donald Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia – which has now been largely debunked.
One subpoena dated Nov. 20, 2017, reportedly demanded that Google turn over personal communication data from two senior staffers, according to Just the News.
The former staffers only found out about the subpoenas last week, when Google notified them that their records had been taken, following the company’s policy of alerting users five years after authorities request such information.
Former Intelligence Committee senior counsel Kash Patel, one of the staffers whose information was subpoenaed, called the revelation “shocking.”
“Because a co-equal branch of government, we as congressional investigators and Devin Nunes, his staff on House Intel were conducting constitutional demanded oversight of the fraudulent acts at the FBI and DOJ which we now know happened,” Patel told Just the News.
The other staffer said he was also notified by Google that the DOJ had subpoenaed his personal records and noted the hard work he had put in to investigate the FBI’s Russia collusion conduct.
According to Just the News, the subpoenas sought “all customer and subscriber account information,” “addresses (including mailing addresses, residential addresses, business addresses, and e-mail addresses),” user and screen names, “local and long distance telephone connection records” and “means and source of payment for such service (including any credit card or bank account number) and billing records.”
While the documents given to Just the News are semi-redacted, the outlet reported that the numbering system on the subpoenas likely suggests that the investigation into the staffers was overseen by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Devin Nunes, who led the intelligence committee investigating the FBI and DOJ, called on Republican leadership to immediately investigate the subpoenas.
Nunes told Just the News: “The FBI and DOJ spied on a presidential campaign, and when Congress began exposing what they were doing, they spied on us to find out what we knew and how we knew it.”
He added, “It’s an egregious abuse of power that the next Congress must investigate so these agencies can be held accountable and reformed.”
According to Patel, Nunes and committee staffers have suspected that their communications may have been monitored since 2018, when then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein allegedly threatened to subpoena Nunes and other senior staffers during a meeting.
“In this one meeting, in particular, Rod Rosenstein, who’s known for losing his temper, had done so before and in this meeting, screamed at the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and myself. And he literally said verbatim, if you’re going to continue this investigation, I’m going to subpoena you and your records, looking at the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and looking at his senior counsel and chief investigator on the Russiagate,” Patel told Just the News.
As reported by The Dan Bongino Show, Nunes also told Fox News’ Tucker Carlson during an interview last week that “it appears to be that it’s not just a couple staff, it looks like it probably is more. We only have a couple subpoenas at this point so this is probably just the tip of the iceberg.”
Special Counsel Robert Mueller was put in charge of investigating allegations of Trump colluding with the Russians during the 2016 election. He ultimately concluded that the allegations lacked substantiation.
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