Senate Democrats Threaten to Subpoena Barr, Sessions for Testimony Over Justice Department's Secret Pursuit of Two House Democrats' Data

By Alex Woodward, The Independent

11 June 21

Schumer calls Barr’s alleged seizure of Apple data ‘gross abuse of power’ and ‘assault on the separation of powers’

enate Democrats have called on former Justice Department officials under Donald Trump to testify to Congress following reports that the top prosecutors seized records from Apple to probe data from House Democrats, their aides and family members.

The US Department of Justice reportedly subpoenaed the company for information from accounts belonging to at least two Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee, including prominent Trump impeachment figures Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell.

Records from at least a dozen people were reportedly seized in 2017 and 2018 – including at least one person who was a minor.

“A gross abuse of power. An assault on the separation of powers,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Friday.

He called on former Attorneys General William Barr and Jeff Sessions to testify under oath.

“Barr, Sessions, and other officials involved must testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee under oath,” he said. “If they refuse – they are subject to being subpoenaed and compelled to testify.”

My full statement with Majority Leader @SenSchumer: pic.twitter.com/wRsYfDIh0r

— Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) June 11, 2021

In a joint statement with Senator Dick Durbin, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, the senators condemned the “appalling politicization” of the Justice Department under Trump and called on his “loyalists” to face congressional and inspector general probes.

Congressman Schiff, who served as chair of the House Judiciary Committee and lead impeachment manager during the former president’s first impeachment trial, said in a statement on Thursday that “Trump repeatedly demanded the DOJ go after his political enemies. It’s clear his demands didn’t fall on deaf ears.”

“This baseless investigation, while now closed, is yet another example of Trump’s corrupt weaponization of justice,” he said. And how much he imperiled our democracy.”

The Justice Department’s secretive effort to obtain lawmakers’ data reportedly followed Sessions’s efforts to find sources behind leaks to news media about contacts between Trump and his allies with Russia.

After replacing Sessions, Barr reportedly revived those attempts, promoting a New Jersey prosecutor to the Justice Department to target Schiff and others, according to The New York Times.

The agency secured a gag order on Apple that expired this year, preventing lawmakers from knowing they were subjects of an investigation until last month, the newspaper reported.

Justice Department officials under Joe Biden disclosed the subpoena to news organisations in recent weeks, fuelling reporting into the depths of Trump-era probe and his war on the press and political opponents.