Thread by @Monaheart1229

New:
Giving new meaning to targeting political opponents:
"Trump had the DOJ seize records from Apple for metadata of House Intelligence Committee members, their aides & family members"
Unsurprising
Yet still absolutely stunning:
nytimes.com/2021/06/10/us/…

2/"As the Justice Department investigated who was behind leaks of classified information early in the Trump administration, it took a highly unusual step: Prosecutors subpoenaed Apple for data from the accounts of at least two Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee,

3/"aides and family members. One was a minor. All told, the records of at least a dozen people tied to the committee were seized in 2017 and early 2018, including those of Representative Adam B. Schiff of California, then the panel’s top Democrat and now its chairman,

4/"according to committee officials and two other people briefed on the inquiry. Prosecutors, under the beleaguered attorney general, Jeff Sessions, were hunting for the sources behind news media reports about contacts between Trump associates and Russia.

5/"Ultimately, the data and other evidence did not tie the committee to the leaks, and investigators debated whether they had hit a dead end and some even discussed closing the inquiry.

6/"William P. Barr revived languishing leak investigations after he became attorney general a year later. He moved a trusted prosecutor from New Jersey with little relevant experience to the main Justice Department to work on the Schiff-related case and about a half-dozen others,

7/"according to three people with knowledge of his work who did not want to be identified discussing federal investigations. .. Moreover, just as it did in investigating news organizations, the Justice Department secured a gag order on Apple that expired this year,

8/"according to a person familiar with the inquiry, so lawmakers did not know they were being investigated until Apple informed them last month.

9/"Prosecutors also eventually secured subpoenas for reporters’ records to try to identify their confidential sources, a move that department policy allows only after all other avenues of inquiry are exhausted.

10/"The subpoenas remained secret until the Justice Department disclosed them in recent weeks to the news organizations — The Washington Post, The New York Times and CNN — revelations that set off criticism that the government was intruding on press freedoms.

11/"The gag orders and records seizures show how aggressively the Trump administration pursued the inquiries while Mr. Trump declared war on the news media and perceived enemies whom he routinely accused of disclosing damaging information about him, including Mr. Schiff

12/"and James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director whom prosecutors focused on in the leak inquiry involving Times records.

13/"..As the years wore on, some officials argued in meetings that charges were becoming less realistic, former Justice Department officials said: They lacked strong evidence, and a jury might not care about information reported years earlier.

14/"The Trump administration also declassified some of the information, making it harder for prosecutors to argue that publishing it had harmed the United States.

15/"And the president’s attacks on Mr. Schiff and Mr. Comey would allow defense lawyers to argue that any charges were attempts to wield the power of law enforcement against Mr. Trump’s enemies.

16/"But Mr. Barr directed prosecutors to continue investigating, contending that the Justice Department’s National Security Division had allowed the cases to languish, according to three people briefed on the cases.

17/"Some cases had nothing to do with leaks about Mr. Trump and involved sensitive national security information, one of the people said. But Mr. Barr’s overall view of leaks led some people in the department to eventually see the inquiries as politically motivated.

18/"Mr. Schiff called the subpoenas for data on committee members and staff another example of Mr. Trump using the Justice Department as a 'cudgel against his political opponents and members of the media.'”
~excerpts NYT