WASHINGTON — Former White House counsel Don McGahn was told by Apple last month that the Justice Department subpoenaed information about an account he owned in February 2018, two sources familiar with the matter told the New York Times.
At the time, Apple was barred by authorities from telling McGahn that it had sought this information. It is unclear what the DOJ was investigating or if McGahn was the primary target of the inquiry, the Times reported.
The revelation is the latest in a series of reports finding the Trump-era Justice Department monitored and pursued private information on journalists and Democratic lawmakers.
It comes just days after the Justice Department’s independent watchdog announced it was launching a broad investigation into whether the Trump administration and its two attorneys general improperly seized phone records of House Democratic lawmakers, their staff and journalists as part of an aggressive 2018 leak investigation.
On Friday, DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz confirmed he would launch an investigation, adding his watchdog agency would look beyond subpoenas to “other legal authorities (used) to obtain communication records … in connection with recent investigations of alleged unauthorized disclosures of information to the media by government officials.”
This is part of a trend easy to predict. The Government has for years, under both parties, sought to expand it’s reach.This accelerated following the so called “Patriot Act” where the Government acknowledged no limits on its ability to access digital content. This was just a matter of time. I predict the trend will continue under Joe Biden.