Democrats Demand Investigation of Trump-Era Seizure of Lawmakers' Data
Source: New York Times
Top Democrats in Congress on Friday demanded a full investigation of the Justice Department’s extraordinary decision to secretly seize data from the accounts of at least two House lawmakers and their aides as the Trump administration sought to hunt down the source of leaks of classified information.
Democrats and free speech advocates decried the seizures and aggressive investigative tactics, first reported by The New York Times on Thursday, as a gross abuse of power to target another branch of government and said the pursuit of information on some of former President Donald J. Trump’s most visible political adversaries smacked of dangerous politicization.
They called variously for the Justice Department inspector general and Congress itself to open an inquiry — and for department personnel involved in the investigation to be fired.
“I hope every prosecutor who was involved in this is thrown out of the department,” Representative Eric Swalwell of California, one of at least two Democrats on the Intelligence Committee whose records were seized, said in an interview. “It crosses the line of what we do in this country.”
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Showing we/they're PISSED OFF!!!
Democrats said they were opening an inquiry into the Trump-era Justice Department’s seizure of data from the accounts of at least two House lawmakers and their aides during a leak investigation.
*Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, and Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the chairman of the judiciary panel, said they were willing to subpoena for testimony Mr. Barr, former Attorney General Jeff Session and others if necessary. They also announced they would “vigorously investigate” the department’s actions and called on Republicans to join them in the inquiry. . .
“This issue should not be partisan; under the Constitution, Congress is a coequal branch of government and must be protected from an overreaching executive, and we expect that our Republican colleagues will join us in getting to the bottom of this serious matter,” Mr. Schumer and Mr. Durbin said in a statement.
Their demands came as Democrats in both chambers decried the seizures and aggressive investigative tactics, first reported by The New York Times on Thursday, as a gross abuse of power to target another branch of government. They said the pursuit of information on some of President Donald J. Trump’s most visible political adversaries in Congress smacked of dangerous politicization.'>>>
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/06/11/us/politics-news#democrats-trump-leak-investigations
