The Trump Justice Department also secretly seized the phone records of 4 New York Times reporters last year

New York Times
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The Justice Department said Wednesday that it secretly seized the phone records of four New York Times reporters last year as part of a leak investigation, the latest revelation of surveilling journalists by the Trump administration. The Biden administration has already informed CNN and The Washington Post that the phone records and email logs of its reporters were secretly obtained last year, a practice that President Biden said is "simply, simply wrong" and will not happen under his administration.

"Members of the news media have now been notified in every instance" where their records were sought in 2019 and 2020 in leak investigations, Justice Department spokesman Anthony Coley said Wednesday. The attorney general has to sign off on requests to secretly obtain journalists' records under reforms implement in former President Barack Obama's second term. William Barr was attorney general for all but the last week of 2020.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.