Trump administration secretly spied on reporters.

[Gomez Adams]

This is beyond the pale. Even in his darkest days, Nixon never stooped this low.

Trump Justice Department seized CNN records tied to correspondent’s phone and email

The news comes less than two weeks after The Washington Post said the department secretly got three of its reporters’ phone records.

www.politico.com

President Donald Trump’s Justice Department “secretly” obtained a CNN reporter‘s records related to phone calls and email, the network said on Thursday.​

CNN reported that the department informed Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr last week about the move, in which prosecutors were able to get email- and phone-related records for two months in 2017. Those records included both her personal and work phones and emails.​

A Justice Department spokesperson, Anthony Coley, confirmed to POLITICO on Thursday night that the legal process to get the records was approved last year, but he did not explain why the records were sought.​

The news comes less than two weeks after The Washington Post reported that Trump’s Justice Department secretly got three Post reporters’ phone records and tried to get their email logs. The move was in an apparent bid to uncover the sources for a story in 2017 on a federal investigation into alleged links between Russia and the then-president’s campaign.​

​

Simply unbelievable. This is the kind of crap that Russia does.

 

[Grimhogun]

Isn't that illegal? I mean isn't that an invasion of privacy or something. The constitution says we have the right to be secure in our homes which is why police have to have probable cause to get a warrant right? What the hell possible probable cause could they have had? It's a newspaper source. It's freedom of the press. No crime was committed so there is no fucking way they had probable cause. How the fuck aren't people going to jail over this?

 

[Gomez Adams]

Isn't that illegal?

In a word, yes. It's an illegal search and seizure.

I'm sure they would claim that it was a matter of national security but that wouldn't hold much water at all. They would have to state what part of national security a news article could possibly pose a threat to and they'd be sitting there twiddling their collective thumbs to come up with a good reason for that.

And yes, before any warrants you must show probable cause.

In my humble opinion, it's an illegal search and seizure and an abuse of power, both of which should be punished with heavy punitive fines and at least some jail time.

 

[Hugo Stiglitz]

We'll probably still be finding out all the bullshit that went on in the Trump presidency years from now. There's just too much shit to find all at once.