Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan announced that the House Judiciary Committee has begun looking into reports that the Justice Department\u00a0spied\u00a0on members of Congress and their staff.<\/p>\n
Iowa GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley is also looking into allegations that the Department of Justice spied on his former chief investigative counsel, Jason Foster. On Tuesday, Jordan made the investigation public on Fox Business.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe now know that they spied on congressional staffers,\u201d Jordan said in an appearance on Fox Business\u2019s The Evening Edit with Elizabeth MacDonald. \u201cWe want to know, how far does it go? Were they spying on members? Were they spying on other staffers? Keep this in mind, Liz: We know they spied on President Trump\u2019s campaign. We know all that from the FISA Court and what they did with Carter Page and Papadopoulos\u2014everything else. Now we\u2019ve learned that they spied on one of Sen. Grassley\u2019s staff members, Jason Foster.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to know, does it go further?\u201d he stressed. \u201cSo we\u2019ve sent letters not only to the Department of Justice but to all these carriers that the Department of Justice worked with to get the phone records and the email records from congressional staffers like Mr. Foster. How far does this go? Were they spying on members and other staff?\u201d<\/p>\n
Jordan wrote to Alphabet, Apple, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon\u2019s CEOs, as well as Attorney General Merrick Garland, requesting information about the DOJ\u2019s alleged attempts to obtain the private communications of members of Congress and their staff as part of the investigation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Justice Department\u2019s efforts to obtain the private communications of congressional staffers, including staffers conducting oversight of the Department, are wholly unacceptable and offend fundamental separation of powers principles as well as Congress\u2019s constitutional authority to conduct oversight of the Department,\u201d the letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook read.<\/p>\n
The letter continues by elaborating on the claim that the DOJ issued subpoenas to congressional staffers looking into the DOJ\u2019s Crossfire Hurricane operation on behalf of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in order to obtain emails and records.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese revelations strongly suggest that the Justice Department weaponized its law-enforcement authority to spy on the entities seeking to hold it accountable,\u201d the letter stated.<\/p>\n
As chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Jordan has made it a top priority to look into allegations of weaponization of the DOJ during the Biden administration.<\/p>\n