Two democrats. They went after certain Iphone Records of key democrats involved in the russia investigations. The New York Times First Published the stories that they were trying to find media contacts. Even after investigators thought they hit a dead end and discussed closing the inquiry, William Barr Ctold them to keep digging. News of these subpoenas are just the latest evidence of trumps heavyhanded tactics when it comes to leak investigations, but its also the most alarming, revealing the unprecedent lengths the Trump Administration went to as it targeted its political enemies. This comes after we learned they also obtained secret records from journalists. This includes Barbara Starr and other news organizations. Lets get the latest from cnns laura jarrett. You know, laura, i know sometimes these things can blend together. Its important to note this is different. This is a new level. Thats right. Brianna. It turns out reporters werent the only ones targeted by Trumps Justice Department and didnt know it. The lengths that the Justice Department went to help the former president and his quest to get to the bottom of stories he didnt like now far more serious than previously known. Democratic lawmakers, their staff, and families are the latest in the hunt for leakers. A new report overnight reveals as trump fumed over contacts between Trump Associates and russia, Behind The Scenes the doj subpoenaed apple to hunt down the data for those stories. They sought information from more than 100 accounts include those of Now Intel Chairman adam sc schiff, according to sources at cnn. I cant say that it was extraordinarily broad. People having nothing to do with, you know, the Intelligence Matters that are at least being reported on. It just shows what a broad Phishing Expedition it was and so many norms were broken in connection with this. Reporter as first reported by the New York Times, the probe started under then embattled Attorney General Jeff Sessions. It involved data information. The evidence showed no proof of leaks from the committee at the time. I do think the Department Needs to do a lot of selfexamination to get to the bottom of how it was misused and abused and take corrective action. Reporter a trail that had gone cold under Jeff Sessions then changed. Bill barr became Attorney General and revived the investigation with a prior attorney from new jersey. Three people familiar with the case told the times the doj managed to get a gag order issued on apple, allowing the company to notify some Committee Members their records had been shared, a source told cnn. Congressman Eric Swalwell said he received that notice and confirmed a minor child was also targeted. I believe they were targeted punitively and not for any reason in law but because donald trump identified Chairman Schiff and members of the committee as an enemy of his. Reporter schiff added in a statement, quote, i believe more answers are needed, which is why i believe the Inspector General should investigate this and other cases that suggest that the weaponization of Law Enforcement by a corrupt president. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi answered that call say ing transparency is essential. The Justice Department and bill barr declined to comment on all this new reporting. So did a representative for apple. But the real question this morning with a new administration in place is how does an Attorney General such as Merrick Garland give the Public Confidence that the department will no longer be used for political ends. Joining us now New York Times washington Correspondent Maggie Peoplerman and peter strzok. Look, peter, i want to start with you. There have been Corruption Investigations into Members Of Congress where you look into certain things to figure out if they did something wrong. I cant think of anything quite like this, what adam schiff describes as a fishing expe expedition. Any precedent here . What do you make of it . I would say, look, theres certainly reasons to have these investigations open. There were real problems with leaks in 2016 and 17, and the government has an obligation to maintain classification and look at the people illegally disclosing it. Having said that, i worked in the Media Leak Investigations for 15 years, and i cant remember an instance as this of such a broad scope. We now have eight or more reporters whose records were obtained, multiple Members Of Congress. They were always treated deferentially due to freedom of speech. To go after Family Members and minors, its unprecedented in my experience. Maggie, what do you think of this . Sometimes these things blend together. You have, i think, a public who becomes numb. Theyre used to hearing this over and over, but this seems different. This is certainly more elevated. This was an incredibly aggressive move by the Justice Department, brianna. Look, we have seen more commonly investigations into leaks that related to seizing journalists records that happened under obama, that clearly happened very aggressively under former President Trump. The scope of this is really very different. Again, the bar is supposed to be higher for going after a coequal branch of governments records, so this Spea Sopeaks T number one, about the president s desire to have leaks ended. He was constantly talking about what he wanted the Justice Department do in ways that would have helped him politically,t least certainly in this case. The justice de with what the former president wanted. The other piece of this we have not discussed were the gag orders put in place on apple as the doj was trying to take this met metadata. Apple was not allowed to talk about these cases for many years. Its only recently it wu lifted. Who knows what else was learned, but these are aggressive and unusual measures. Peter, the times story said at several different points they thought they hit a dead end and had discussed closing these investigations, but at least in one instance bill barr said, no, no, keep digging. Does that lend credence to the idea theres a political motivation here . Absolutely, it does. Look. The people investigating these cases, i know many of them. Theyre professionals. They have done this in the past. They know what theyre doing. A good investigator knows whether theyve worked these case wls or not theyll be able to work the case. When i hear of an political employee saying weve got nothing here only to have Attorney General barr swoop in and say no, keep digging, that raises the question that they continued well past when they should have. I want to play a sound bite from last year. This is from former President Trump when he was accusing adam schiff, the chair of the House Intel Committee of Leaking Information. And, frankly, i think its disgraceful, and i think it was leaks from the intelligence comm committee, house version, and i think schiff leaked it. Schiff leaked it in my opinion. They shouldnt do things like that. They need to stop the leaking from the intelligence committee. If they dont stop it, i cant imagine that people are not going to go after them and find out whats happening. They already had, maggie. Right. As we know, the former president had a habit of saying things publicly as if he was unaware of things that were taking place and they often matched his words and what he was saying. One thing im struck by in the last 12 hours or so since this came to light is the number of people who i have spoken to who work inside the Trump Administration who have essentially justified it saying, they, too, had reason to be angry with the House Intelligence Committee. They lose sight because they get lost in that trump was victimized. They look at this on Sitting Members of congress, several Sitting Members, a family member, in one case a minor. Its incredibly unusual, and for people in the Trump Administration, they have tended to lose sight that a lot of what the president was doing wasnt just beyond normsbusting. It really walked up to or crossed the lines sometimes. As long as were playing sound, history from the wayback machine, i want to play this. This is 2019 between then senator Kamala Harris and oh, we dont have it. Hang on. Were looking for the sound bite. Its worth it. Its worth it. But, peter, to maggies point about what makes this unusual, explain to us. As you said, you oversaw these investigations. What makes this different . Well, theres always attention to the government Leaking Information to the media and the First Amendment and free press. Thats something historically that the fbi and doj have been cautious and careful about how they investigate them and whether or not theyre used in trucive means to get to those investigations. Again, there are legitimate reasons to look into the leaks. At the same time, go after the sort of activity that we saw occurring, you know, this being reported on recently, the extraordinary breadth of it and how obtrusive it was, really, in my opinion, tramples a lot of those established norms that the fbis adhered to for decades and decades, and decades. Its going to take some real in in in intraspection. I think we should also talk about and well play that sound from former senator Kamala Harris. But we should also talk about what they were looking intointo. The leaks, the information, the reports that came out that led to this investigation was that the Russian Ambassador, the Russian Ambassador to the u. S. , had contact with top trump aides, and what came out of those reports was hugely questionable, what they were discussing with the Russian Ambassador. Yet, peter, the reaction was to investigate where they came from. How did this very alarming information come ohe reaction, obviously thing these conversat . Well, theres clearly attention there. On the one hand it was newsworthy. It was absolutely incredible what was going on by then the Incoming National security adviser mike flynn and the Russian Ambassador, trying to undermine the response on the russian attacks in 2016 that the Obama Administration was trying to implement. The fact it was newsworthy doesnt mean that people entrusted with Classified Information had the authority on their own to go out and disclose that information. So theres a tension built into the system. So i think both of these things can be bad at the same time, but what were talking about today, the reaction of the government to look into those leaks, the steps the government took and how far they went, thats the real issue here, and thats where we need to do a hard look from within the government and outside to determine whether or not this is the appropriate or acceptable level of investigative activity that occurs. This is what then Attorney General william bar said about investigations to senator Kamala Harris. Listen. Ashas the president or anyon at the white house ever asked or suggested you open an investigation of anyone . I wouldnt i wouldnt yes or no . Could you repeat that question . I will repeat it. Has the president or anyone at the white house ever asked or suggested that you open an investigation of anyone, yes or no, please, sir . The president or anybody else. Seems youd remember Something Like that and be able to tell us . Wow, maggie. Once again, his response to that was already dodgey. But now based on what we see here, even more so. Right, john. I think there are going to be a lot of things that were said certainly during the last four years and obviously when the Attorney General bill barr came in that are going to get fresh looks in light of this information. Again, i think the question is going to be not just public statements, not just whether or not the former president asked for that to be done, did bill barr revive this on his own. Jeff sessions who was under enormous pressure from the former president at the time in 2018 2019, basically to hang onto his job, how much was said overtly or not, i think a lot of it comes back to, are we going to learn about other records that were looked at or seized or are we going to learn there are other groups of people that doj was trying to grab information that related to it. All of this is going to continue to raise questions about, you know, the separation between doj and the white house. Its something that President Biden has tried to make a big priority of. But even there, Merrick Garland, that a. G. , that Justice Department had, you know, enforced and continuied a gag o the New York Times in all of this. I think its all going to add to a question of faith in the department of justice. Peter, you were shaking your head, watching that moment from the Kmcommittee Hearing with bi barr. Yeah, of course. As an investigator, you begin to understand when people are not telling the truth, avoiding answers. When i see long pauses, vague answers, refusing to answer, its clear things are there. Its clear Kamala Harris knew exactly what was going on and bill barr knew what he was hiding there. It was clear he wasnt being forthcoming in his answers to those questions. Very interesting to go back and look at things. As you said, maggie, maybe worth looking at a lot of things that were said out loud that we know now. So what role did apple play in handing over data to the fbi, and what are they required to do by law . A closer look next. Blue President Biden is expected to kick off a meeting with World Leaders hours from now. Were live from england. And two coronavirus cases aboard a cruise. What does that mean for ships trying to set sail here in the u. S. . With better than ever deals at cvs, you can save big to make your summer. Happier. Yummier. Bolder. Outdoorsyer. Buzzier. Sunnier. Healthier. Smoother. Wilder. Crunchier. And togetherer. Get up to 15 extrabucks rewards when you spend 45 on select products. Now at cvs. Are your hr processes weighing down your employees . 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Chief Business Correspondent Christine Romans joins us now from new york. This is where they got these records, this data. Thats right. Apple at the center of this probe, brianna, and could not disclose it to the targets at the doj. Apple was subpoenaed by the department of justice and complied. Apple turned over the data. Apple was also told to keep this a secret. They couldnt tell the targets of the probe because the doj and prosecutors had a gag order that they renewed three times. It only expired last month. Apple gave over 100 accounts. How often does this happen . According to an apple insider, it happens twice a year. The latest report showed it received 28,000 Device Requests covered 171,000 different devices in the first half of 2020. Now, apple could fight it. Remember the shooting in San Bernardino back in 2015 . Tim cook, ceo of apple was ordered to turn over the information on the phone of one of the shooters. Apple was to build a back door to one of the iphones, but tim cook said it was too dangerous. He was ordered to turn over metadata. Not photos or emails. Will that raise questions about whether they should have fought this . I wonder if it will. It may be that who knows what the political implications would have been for the company, but you see they get an awful lot of requests from prosecutors and Law Enforcement for information, and at least in the case of San Bernardino, they didnt comply. This time they did. House intelligence chairman adam schiff is calling this an assault on democracy . Is this another example l barr Weapon Nicing the depathe department of justice. And a bipartisan deal, details on the table. This is the sound of change. The sound of a thousand sighs of relief. And the sound of a company watching out for you. This is the sound of low cash mode from pnc bank, giving you multiple options and at least 24 hours to help you avoid an overdraft fee. 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So when a hailstorm hit, usaa reached out before he could even inspect the damage. Thats how you do it right. Usaa insurance is made just the way martins family needs it with hasslefree claims, he got paid before his neighbor even got started. Because doing right by our members, thats whats right. Usaa. What youre made of, were made for. Usaa Breaking News this department, going after Iphone Records of key Members Of Congress, democrats. This raises serious questions about whether donald trump, william barr, Jeff Sessions were weaponizing the Justice Department in unprecedent ways. Joining us now with more, cnns senior legal analyst Ellie Hoe Ning and cnn correspondent whitney wild. This is just a huge revelation by everyone we talk to of investigation into records of Sitting Members of congress. Your reaction. John, you just used the phrase weaponization. This is what it means. This is really dystopian, nixon yan, enemy type of stuff. Brianna said it earlier and i completely agree with it, and ill tell you why. We already know bill barr under donald trump used the Legal Department to protect people Michael Flynn and others. That crosses a line that is beyond the pale. Thats what makes this different. Put this into context for us, whitney. Weve heard from adam schiff that this was the fbi sub subpoenaing the data from more than 100 accounts. It ended up being less than that, according to the times, but this was broad and in the end didnt add to much. Adam schiff called it a fishing expedition. The department of justice was issuing very broad subpoenas trying to collect as much information as they could to lock down on leaks. We saw it with the New York Times, the washington post, and cnn. Within the department of justice at the time there was no really consideration of a personal boundary. For example, cnns Barbara Starrs personal email account was subpoenaed in this most recent case. This included Members Of Congress on the House Intelligence Committee, their staff, and also their personal staffs who presumably would have nothing to do with the work of the House Intelligence Committee including Family Members, including a minor. There was nothing off limits if the Justice Department thought they could justify it.