House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) has ordered Big Tech giants including Apple and Google’s parent company, Alphabet, to hand over information regarding the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) attempts to surveil members of Congress and their staff via their private emails and phone records.
Mr. Jordan fired off letters to the CEOs of Alphabet, Apple, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon on Oct. 31 after multiple current and former Senate and House staff—both Democrats and Republicans—were informed by the firms that their email or phone records had been seized by the DOJ via a grand jury subpoena six years ago.
The private communications were notably seized from individuals who were probing alleged wrongdoing by the DOJ in relation to its Russian collusion investigation.
“The Committee on the Judiciary is conducting oversight of the Justice Department’s attempts to surveil Members of Congress and congressional staff members by obtaining information about their private communications from Apple,” Mr. Jordan began in his letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook.
Jason Foster, chief investigative counsel to then-Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, was among those notified in October that the DOJ had subpoenaed Google in 2017 for his personal phone records and emails during the period when Mr. Grassley was conducting oversight of the Department’s handling of the so-called Steele dossier, Just the News reported.
The Steele dossier was paid for by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
“Google’s notification to this staffer revealed the Justice Department likely also sought the personal records and communications of other congressional staffers—both Republicans and Democrats—who engaged in oversight of the Department during the same period. The Committee is investigating whether the Justice Department asked other email or telecommunications providers for similar information on Members of Congress and congressional staff,” Mr. Jordan continued.
Surveillance ‘Wholly Unacceptable’
In his letters, Mr. Jordan demanded the tech giants hand over a string of documents and information dating back to January 2016.
That includes “all documents and communications between or among Apple employees referring or relating to subpoenas or requests issued by the Department of Justice to Apple for personal or official records or communications of Members of Congress or congressional staff,” Mr. Jordan wrote in his letter to the Apple CEO.
