United States: outcry after spying on elected Democrats under Trump, an open investigation
Democrats Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell were targeted by requests for the seizure of secret data by the US Department of Justice, under Donald Trump.
Here, Adam Schiff (left) in Washington on September 25, 2019 and Eric Swalwell (right) in Miami on June 27, 2019 © AFP - MANDEL NGAN, SAUL LOEB
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
In the United States, the Inspector General of the Department of Justice has opened an investigation into the covert data seizure of congressional officials under the Trump administration.
The Justice Department had, in 2017 and 2018, demanded that Apple provide the digital data of elected Democrats, including two members of the Judicial Committee of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Uproar among parliamentarians, who were recently informed.
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With our correspondent in Washington,
Anne Corpet
Democrats denounce another unacceptable drift by the Trump administration.
In 2017 and 2018, the Apple company was ordered to secretly provide the Ministry of Justice with the digital data of two parliamentarians, but also of their entourage and members of their families.
The administration was acting to try to find out where the leaks came from on
suspicions of collusion between Donald Trump and the Russian authorities
.
Adam Schiff, one of the elected officials targeted, was the constant target of the president's attacks.
He expressed his indignation: “
It is extraordinary, perhaps unprecedented.
I think this is a terrible abuse of power, it violates the separation of powers and it makes the Department of Justice a wholly owned subsidiary of Donald Trump, charged with defending his legal, political and personal interests.
"
Besides that of the inspector general of the Department of Justice, an investigation will be carried out by the judicial commission of the Senate.
Democrats are calling for the hearing of former
Donald Trump
justice minister
Jeff Sessions.
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