The U.S. Justice Department's internal watchdog reported on Tuesday that prosecutors' decision to subpoena phone and email records from members of Congress and their staff during the early days of Donald Trump's presidency posed a potential chilling effect on congressional oversight.

According to the Office of Inspector General, subpoenas targeted two Democratic members of Congress and 43 staffers, divided nearly equally between Democrats and Republicans. The subpoenas were part of investigations into leaks of classified information to the media in 2017 and 2018.

The subpoenas were issued shortly after The Washington Post reported in July 2017 on a meeting between Russia's then-ambassador to the U.S., Sergey I. Kislyak, and Trump campaign adviser Jeff Sessions. The article cited intelligence intercepts as evidence of the meeting, which discussed Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Among the 43 staffers whose records were targeted was Kash Patel, a key Republican staffer on the House Intelligence Committee working for then-Chairman Devin Nunes. Patel, who later became Trump’s pick for FBI director, was notified about the subpoena by Google and subsequently filed a lawsuit against the FBI and the Justice Department.

Democratic Representative Adam Schiff, the former chair of the House Intelligence Committee and newly elected Senator, along with committee member Representative Eric Swalwell, had previously disclosed that their records were among those subpoenaed.

“We are glad that the Department of Justice Inspector General conducted a thorough investigation and recommended safeguards to better protect the media and uphold the separation of powers,” a spokesperson for Schiff stated.

The investigations were launched during a period when Donald Trump, who will return to office on January 20, vocally condemned leaks to the media regarding alleged connections between his 2016 campaign and the Russian government.

A 2017 U.S. intelligence report concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin orchestrated a sophisticated influence campaign aimed at undermining Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton while bolstering Trump’s bid for the presidency. Both the Kremlin and Trump denied any involvement in election meddling or collusion during the campaign.

Donald Trump has pledged to use the Justice Department to target political opponents and officials who investigated him during his upcoming second term.

The *New York Times* reported that records from four of its journalists were subpoenaed during probes into former FBI Director James Comey’s handling of investigations in the 2016 campaign. Although the Justice Department's Inspector General found no evidence of political motives, the investigation revealed that "dozens of congressional staffers became part of the subject pool in a federal criminal investigation for doing nothing more than performing constitutionally authorized oversight of the executive branch."

The Inspector General's report concluded that the subpoenas created at least the "appearance of inappropriate interference" by the Justice Department in Congress's work. No charges resulted from
these investigations, which the report confirmed are now closed.

### Media Records Targeted

Prosecutors also obtained phone or email records from eight reporters across three major outlets: *The New York Times*, *The Washington Post*, and CNN. These subpoenas, issued to third-party tech and phone companies, mostly excluded the content of calls or messages. Court orders often prevented reporters or staffers from learning their information had been subpoenaed for years.

Inspector General Michael Horowitz found that the Justice Department failed to adhere to policies meant to protect journalists from being entangled in criminal investigations. Following public backlash, the Justice Department updated its policies in 2021 to broadly prohibit subpoenaing reporters' communication records. In September 2024, the department also revised its guidelines on obtaining records from members of Congress or their staff after reviewing the watchdog’s draft report.