Inspector General of the US Department of Justice Michael Horowitz revealed that he will investigate the Department's efforts during the era of former President Donald Trump to obtain from Apple the records and contact data of Democratic lawmakers in the House of Representatives, their families, aides, and press reporters.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democratic Senator Dick Durbin have called for the two former Trump attorneys to be summoned (William Barr, Jeff Sessions) to testify about the issuance of court orders ordering the release of contact records for lawmakers in Congress.
But Barr said he was not aware of any seeking to see documents related to lawmakers' communications.
For its part, Apple confirmed that it received a warrant from a federal judge to produce documents related to 73 phone numbers and 36 electronic addresses in February 2018.
However, the company clarified that it only provided metadata for the requested contacts, and that it did not provide any information related to the content of the email and photos.
The New York Times reported that the Trump Department of Justice issued a subpoena to Microsoft to obtain the email account data of a congressional employee, in an attempt to expose the leakers of classified information to the press.
Microsoft said in a statement to the newspaper that it received a subpoena in 2017 related to a personal email account, and later learned that the person in question was a congressional employee, without specifying his identity.