Trump DOJ Secretly Got WaPo Reporters’ Phone Records

The Washington Post reports:

The Trump Justice Department secretly obtained Washington Post journalists’ phone records 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, according to government letters and officials.

In three separate letters dated May 3 and addressed to Post reporters Ellen Nakashima and Greg Miller, and former Post reporter Adam Entous, the Justice Department wrote they were “hereby notified that pursuant to legal process the United States Department of Justice received toll records associated with the following telephone numbers for the period from April 15, 2017 to July 31, 2017.” The letters listed work, home or cellphone numbers covering that three-and-a-half-month period.

News organizations and First Amendment advocates have long decried the government practice of seizing journalists’ records in an effort to identify the sources of leaks, saying it unjustly chills critical newsgathering.

Read the full article.

Trump administration’s Justice Department secretly obtained Washington Post reporters’ phone records https://t.co/5zPZg1fItp

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) May 7, 2021

Way beyond Nixon at his worst: Trump Justice Department secretly obtained Post reporters’ phone records! https://t.co/txRXKx9z8T

— John W. Dean (@JohnWDean) May 7, 2021