Ex-DOJ official Rosenstein says he was not aware of subpoena targeting Democrats: report

by Jordan Williams - 06/12/21 11:29 PM ET

Former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has said in conversations with associates that he is not be aware of a Trump-era subpoena targeting data for congressional Democrats, CNN reported Saturday.

Rosenstein has told people in recent days that he was not aware of the subpoena for metadata on House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), a source told the outlet.

As CNN points out, a leak investigation relating to the Russia probe would have fallen under Rosenstein, as former Attorney General Jeff Sessions had recused himself from matters relating to Russia.

Former Attorney General William Barr also said Friday that he does not recall discussing an investigation of lawmakers, CNN reported. Barr took office a year after the subpoena on Apple was issued.

Apple revealed on Friday that it received a subpoena for data issued by a federal grand jury in early 2018, along with a nondisclosure order signed by a federal judge to keep it in place. The nondisclosure order had three subsequent extensions, each lasting a year.

The tech giant said the request provided “no information on the nature of the investigation and it would have been virtually impossible for Apple to understand the intent of the desired information without digging through users’ accounts.”

The New York Times first reported on Thursday that the DOJ sought the subpoena for at least a dozen people tied to the House Intelligence Committee in 2017 and 2018.

Since the revelations, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) and Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) have called on Sessions and Barr to testify before the panel.

News of the probe came as the DOJ was coming under scrutiny for secretly obtaining data from journalists as part of leak investigations early in the Trump administration and into the Biden administration.

The DOJ’s internal watchdog announced Friday that it would investigate the subpoenas, as well as recently revealed ones against reporters.