Trump admin's officials spied on Democrats, asked Apple to leak data: Report

Former US President Donald Trump’s administration Department of Justice subpoenaed Apple for data on accounts belonging to at least two Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee, congressional aides and even their family to determine who was behind the leaks of classified information, reported The New York Times on June 10. Committee officials and sources familiar with the inquiry told the media publication that records belonging to at least a dozen people including House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff were reportedly seized in 2017 and 2018. Additionally, data belonging to family members, including at least one minor was also seized by Trump administration officials. 

One source also told the Times that Apple agreed to turn over the metadata and account information. However, American multinational technology did not provide photos, emails or other content. The data was accessed when, as per the report, prosecutors under the former Attorney General Jeff Sessions were looking probing to identify the people behind leaking information to the media about contact between Trump associates and Russia. 

‘Most dangerous assaults’

Even though the data seized in the investigations did not link the Intelligence Committee to information leaks but Sessions’ successor William Barr later revived the investigation. Reportedly, Barr moved a trusted New Jersey prosecutor, Osmar Benvenuto, into the main branch of the Department of Justice (DOJ) with an aim to continue the investigation into Schiff and around half a dozen other people. In a statement to the media publication, Schiff said that Trump used his administration’s 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,” Schiff said. “The politicization of the department and the attacks on the rule of law are among the most dangerous assaults on our democracy carried out by the former president.” The California congressman also called for an investigation by an independent inspector general to investigate the probe that Trump’s DOJ and other members “suggest the weaponization of law enforcement.”

David Laufman, a former DOJ official who used to investigate leaks also told the media outlet that, “notwithstanding whether there was sufficient predication for the leak investigation itself, including family members and minor children strikes me as extremely aggressive."

IMAGE: AP