Recently, reporting revealed that officials at the Trump Justice Department had subpoenaed and obtained communications data for two members of Congress, including Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), along with staffers and family members of both individuals. The data seizures constitute a widely appalling abuse of power by the Trump administration, which was conducting an investigation into leaks when going after the materials. During an appearance on MSNBC’s The Sunday Show over the weekend, Schiff laid out some of the serious ramifications of the situation.
Inspector General Michael Horowitz, who oversees the Justice Department, has announced that he and his team will be conducting an investigation into the subpoenas for the Democratic data, which Schiff referenced in his remarks. Horowitz has also indicated that he’ll be examining the Trump Justice Department’s efforts to obtain communications data for certain prominent journalists. As Schiff pointedly put it:
‘The problem is when the president continually badgers the Justice Department to go after his political enemies, and he has people unscrupulous enough to do it, it raises serious questions about whether the Justice Department has been weaponized in the president’s service… There’s still a lot we don’t know obviously, but I’m glad that the inspector general of the Justice Department will be doing an investigation… Hopefully this will result in new policies in the Justice Department to better protect the First Amendment but also to better protect the independence of the Justice Department.’
Those are serious observations. Check out Schiff’s remarks below:
.@RepAdamSchiff tells @CapehartJ that he found out the Trump DOJ had seized his data from a “generic email from Apple” #SundayShow pic.twitter.com/05co13rNOz
— The Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart (@TheSundayShow) June 13, 2021
Besides the investigation from Inspector General Horowitz, Senate Democratic leaders have announced their own investigation, with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Judiciary Committee chair Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) already indicating that Trump era Attorney Generals Bill Barr and Jeff Sessions should expect subpoenas if they do not willingly testify to Congress about the situation. Both Barr and Sessions have claimed that they did not know about the subpoenas targeting Schiff and Swalwell, although neither of the former Trump officials are particularly known as a credible source. At present, there’s been no apparent public confirmation of who actually signed off on the subpoenas.
