The Washington Post is reporting Friday night that its reporters had their cell phone records secretly obtained by the Trump Justice Department in 2017 to find out about leaks involving Russia and the 2016 election. The Post writes:
In three separate letters dated May 3 and addressed to Post reporters Ellen Nakashima and Greg Miller, and former Post reporter Adam Entous, the Justice Department wrote they were “hereby notified that pursuant to legal process the United States Department of Justice received toll records associated with the following telephone numbers for the period from April 15, 2017 to July 31, 2017.” The letters listed work, home or cellphone numbers covering that three-and-a-half-month period.
The records will show who called whom and when but won’t say what was said in the cell phone conversations. Bloomberg reports:
The Post said the three reporters had worked on a July 2017 article about reports to Moscow by Russian’s then-ambassador Sergey Kislyak regarding his encounters with Sessions in 2016.
“We are deeply troubled by this use of government power to seek access to the communications of journalists. The Department of Justice should immediately make clear its reasons for this intrusion into the activities of reporters doing their jobs, an activity protected under the First Amendment.”
Cameron barr, acting Executive editor, the Washington post