The Trump Justice Department secretly obtained the phone records of WaPo reporters @nakashimae @gregpmiller and @adamentous and tried to obtain their email records over reporting they did in the early months of the Trump administration on Russia’s role in the 2016 election.
https://twitter.com/DevlinBarrett/status/1390786229575290880
The records for their telephone numbers covered the period April 15, 2017 to July 31, 2017. This included work and home or cellphone numbers covering that three-and-a-half-month period. The Justice Department defended its decision...as an investigative step of last resort
During period for which phone records were obtained, the journos wrote story about classified US intel intercepts that indicated in 2016 Sen. Jeff Sessions had discussed Trump campaign w/ Sergey Kislyak, Russia ambassador to US. Sessions was attorney gen when article published
In early Aug 2017, days after time period covered by the search of reporters’ phone records — Sessions held press conf to announce intensified effort to hunt leakers in gov. "That announcement seemed aimed at appeasing Trump, who had...branded Sessions 'weak on hunting leakers."
Note this isn't 1st time @nakashimae phone recs were obtained. Occurred prior in 2004 (though wasn't disclosed until 2008) during FBI investigation of terror case. The more recent case is more egregious, though, since the motivation was partly political. nytimes.com/2008/08/09/was…
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