Former White House counsel Don McGahn has been told by Apple that the Justice Department subpoenaed data on his account, according to a report Sunday in The New York Times. Also, the government barred the company from telling him about it.
In addition, the DOJ subpoenaed data on McGahn’s wife. The Times notes it’s not clear what the F.B.I. was looking for, or whether McGahn was the focus of the search.
Still, the disclosure that agents secretly collected data of a sitting White House counsel is striking as it comes amid a political backlash to revelations about Trump-era seizures of data of reporters and Democrats in Congress for leak investigations. The president’s top lawyer is also a chief point of contact between the White House and the Justice Department.
CNN has confirmed the Times’ reporting and adds:
The pursuit was under a nondisclosure order until May, indicating the Justice Department went to a judge multiple times to keep it secret throughout former President Donald Trump’s years in office.
The Justice Department appears to have accessed McGahn and his wife’s information the same month the department swept up Apple’s data related to dozens of phone numbers and email accounts connected to the House Intelligence Committee, including for two of its Democratic members.