A new report from the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has revealed that DOJ personnel misled courts in order to obtain gag orders that prevented dozens of elected officials and Congressional staffers from knowing they were being spied on during the Russiagate investigation.
The OIG report, released Tuesday, found that in 2017 and 2018, the DOJ collected data from two members of Congress, 43 staffers, and several reporters in an attempt to uncover the source of classified leaks about the investigation. This surveillance was more extensive than previously understood.
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To keep the surveillance secret, the DOJ sought and obtained 40 “non-disclosure orders” (NDOs) from courts, preventing third-party companies from informing the targets that their data had been seized. The OIG report criticizes the DOJ for failing to disclose in its NDO applications that the targets were members of Congress and their staff, and for using generic justifications instead of providing case-specific reasons for the gag orders. Some of these NDOs remained in effect for up to four years.
The OIG report states that the DOJ’s actions “implicated the constitutional rights and authorities of a co-equal branch of government” and created “at a minimum, the appearance of inappropriate interference by the executive branch.”
The two lawmakers targeted were both Democrats, while the staffers included 21 who worked for Democrats, 20 who worked for Republicans, and two who worked in non-partisan roles.
Notably, one of the staffers targeted was Kash Patel, who served as senior counsel on the House Intelligence Committee and played a key role in investigating alleged surveillance abuses against the 2016 presidential campaign.
While the DOJ has since revised its policies to require higher-level approval for such surveillance and NDOs, critics argue that these changes are insufficient.
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Jason Foster, founder of the government watchdog Empower Oversight, questioned the effectiveness of the reforms and demanded accountability for those who misled the court.
“DOJ misled the courts to get the gag orders (which extended into the Biden admin). It’s an institutional problem. Everyone’s so-called “non-content” comms records can be secretly had w/ no probable cause. We need accountability for those who misled courts with boilerplate BS,” said Porter on X.
This report raises serious concerns about the DOJ’s conduct during the Russiagate investigation and its potential overreach in surveilling lawmakers and their staff. It also underscores the need for greater transparency and accountability within the department to prevent future abuses.
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