Watchdog group asks to unseal records of DOJ’s subpoenas of congressional staffers’ messages

EXCLUSIVE: A watchdog group is asking a federal court to unseal documents related to the Justice Department’s subpoenas of the personal phone and email records of members of Congress and during the Trump-Russia investigation, Fox News Digital has learned. 

Empower Oversight Whistleblowers & Research filed a motion, first obtained by Fox News Digital, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Thursday, saying the matter is “of significant public interest.” 

The motion also revealed the nondisclosure orders that the DOJ imposed upon Google to prevent the tech giant from notifying users that their records were targeted.

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The initial subpoena was renewed three subsequent times targeting congressional staff and members of Congress from both political parties, Empower Oversight says. 

Jason Foster, the founder of Empower Oversight, received notice in October 2023 that the Justice Department had obtained and served a subpoena on Google in 2017 for records associated with his Google email address and two Google Voice telephone numbers connected to his family’s phones and his official work phone. 

The Justice Department reportedly barred Google from notifying certain congressional staff members of subpoenas on their records (Samuel Corum/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

At the time, Foster worked in the U.S. Senate as the chief investigative counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, then chaired by Sen. Chuck Grassley. 

The DOJ’s subpoena to Google compelled the company to release records related to Foster’s Google accounts, as well as the records of other Google customers. 

“Based on further discussions with the U.S. Senate Office of Legal Counsel, DOJ’s Office of Inspector General, former colleagues of Mr. Foster’s who also received notices, and attorneys for Google, it appears that the other accounts listed in the subpoena belonged to other staffers, both Republicans and Democrats, for U.S. House and Senate committees that were similarly engaged in oversight of DOJ pursuant to their constitutional authorities,” the filing states. 

Empower Oversight said the DOJ “withheld that important context from Google” and questioned whether the agency also withheld that information from the court. 

The nature of the records the DOJ obtained “could easily enable DOJ to identify confidential whistleblowers who were providing Congress with information about government misconduct,” Empower Oversight said. 

“There are multiple layers of secrecy standing between the public and important documents that the Department of Justice filed in this case,” the filing states, calling for the unsealing of records related to the investigation. 

One staffer whose communications were allegedly subpoenaed formerly worked for the Senate Judiciary Committee, then chaired by Sen. Chuck Grassley (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The Justice Department “obtained a subpoena and later requested and received non-disclosure orders [NDOs] that prohibited Google Inc. from notifying ‘any other person of the existence of’ the subpoena,” the filing states. 

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“Accordingly, the public is deprived of learning what basis (if any) DOJ offered in support of its NDO requests,” the filing states.

The subpoenas, according to Empower Oversight, appear to be related to the leak of confidential information, which resulted in the prosecution and guilty plea of former Senate Intelligence Committee Security Director James Wolfe. 

After Wolfe’s conviction for making a false statement to the FBI, the Justice Department requested three additional one-year renewals of the non-disclosure order with the court.

The Justice Department reportedly barred Google from notifying certain congressional staff members of subpoenas on their records (Reuters)

Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa; Ted Cruz of Texas; and Mike Lee of Utah began investigating the subpoenas and DOJ’s efforts to collect the private phone and email logs in November after Empower Oversight’s Freedom of Information Act request revealed the collection of those records while both House and Senate lawmakers investigated the origins of the Trump-Russia probe during the Trump administration.

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Back in 2018, then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein threatened to subpoena personal records belonging to staffers for the House Intelligence Committee during a confrontation over the Justice Department’s “failure to comply with the committee’s compulsory process,” the senators revealed in November. 

A spokesperson for Google did not comment on the Empower Oversight filing directly, but told Fox News Digital that the company has seen an increase in non-disclosure orders from federal prosecutors.

“We’re seeing non-disclosure orders issued for an increasing number of court orders, warrants, and subpoenas from U.S. authorities. Delayed notice results in users not having the opportunity to assert their rights in court to contest demands for their data. For these reasons, we support the bipartisan NDO Fairness Act, which would ensure that gag orders are issued only when warranted and for reasonable periods,” a spokesperson for Google said in a statement.

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The Justice Department declined to comment. 

The investigation that prompted the subpoenas began under the Trump administration.