Jordan Subpoenas Garland Over Surveillance Of Congressional Staff
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) has subpoenaed U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland — demanding he turn over all documents related to the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) surveillance of congressional staff while former President Donald Trump was in office.
Jordan issued the subpoena following an initial request from the House Judiciary Committee regarding a 2017 subpoena sent from the DOJ to Google, demanding information about former Senate Judiciary Committee staffer Jason Foster and several other congressional staff members.
Foster previously served as an investigative counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee under its chairman at the time, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA). Foster recently revealed that the DOJ had demanded his congressional communications during the early days of Trump’s presidency. According to the former Senate staffer, the agency insisted that his communications were relevant to the false allegations of “collusion” between Trump and Russia.
At the time, Foster was leading the investigation into the false “Steele Dossier” that was used to initiate the Russian Collusion Hoax, as well as a probe into the DOJ’s fraudulent FISA warrant against the Trump campaign.
In Jordan’s letter to Garland, he argued that “the Executive Branch used its immense law-enforcement authority to gather and search the private communications of multiple Legislative Branch employees who were conducting Constitutional oversight of the Department’s investigative actions.”
The DOJ tried to dismiss concerns about the matter earlier this month, sending a letter to Jordan claiming that the agency had only pursued Foster’s communications as part of an investigation into leaked classified information — asserting that the probe “was initiated after a referral for criminal investigation was made to the National Security Division by a member of the U.S. Intelligence Community.”
The letter also claimed that the DOJ was required to first contact Congress for information that was protected under the Speech and Debate Clause.
When the DOJ’s investigation concluded, only one individual was convicted — then-director of security for the Senate Intelligence Committee James Wolfe, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. Wolfe received just two months in prison for the crime.
The DOJ has since tried to enact new policies concerning future subpoenas of members of congress and their staff, as well as correspondence between congressional staff and reporters.
