Merrick Garland and DOJ to tighten rules for accessing lawmaker data in light of new Trump-era revelations

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department will tighten its rules around obtaining records from members of Congress, Attorney General Merrick Garland said Monday, amid revelations the department under former President Donald Trump had secretly seized records from Democrats and members of the media.

The Justice Department is struggling to contain the fallout over revelations that it had confiscated phone data from House Democrats and reporters as part of an aggressive investigation into leaks. The disclosure is also forcing Biden administration officials to wade back into a fight with their predecessors — something they’ve wished to avoid.

Some people might not know they were targeted because the Apple notification was by email and showed up in the spam filters of some of those who were contacted, the person said. Apple AAPL, +2.46% said that it couldn’t challenge the warrants because it had so little information available and that “it would have been virtually impossible for Apple to understand the intent of the desired information without digging through users’ accounts.”

During the first half of last year, for instance, U.S. law enforcement agencies sought information on 18,609 Apple accounts — nearly seven times the number of accounts requested during the same time in 2015.

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horrible From usatodayopinion: '[Garland] cannot promise not to seize such information as a result of targeting potential leakers – unless he wants to promise to end leak investigations entirely.'
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After Apple Subpoenas, Justice Department Rethinks Policies on Getting Lawmakers’ RecordsThe Supreme Court asked the Biden administration to weigh in on a legal challenge alleging that Harvard University discriminated against Asian-American applicants as the court decides whether it will hear the case
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WTF, DOJ?Why does Biden’s Justice Department keep standing up for Trump? We look into it on today’s What Next.
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good luck
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Rep. Himes: 'This should never happen, and it should never happen with members of the opposition party.'Congressman Jim Himes (D-CT) of the House Intelligence Committee on new calls to subpoena former attorneys general William Barr and Jeff Sessions in connection to the DOJ obtaining the data of two congressional democrats. Shame on those who perpetuated this at the request of Trump. Both Sessos and Barr along with Rosendtein were complicit in this and nothing they say is going to make me believe they didn't know anything. Put them on the stand and let see if they commit perjury. Disbar them. We talk about political consequences if the proverbial shoe were on the other foot. Republicans would be more aggressive and demand accountability. Dems seemingly are impotent at prosecuting the atrocities of the previous four years. Unfortunately for the sake of our democracy. It’s a typical move from a dictator!
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Line them up two rows deep before members of Congress and make the entire Trump cabinet and their assistance answer questions under oath if it takes the next 30 straight days or the next year straight never let up be relentless Kind of like what Obama did to the Trump campaign?
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