Trump Administration Seized Democrat Data From Apple

During the early days of Donald Trump’s presidency, the US Department of Justice has subpoenaed Apple to obtain information about at least two Democratic representatives, their employees and their families. One of them was leading Democrat Adam Schiff, The New York Times reports.

According to the paper, prosecutors were trying to identify the media sources, which at the time reported contacts between Trump associates and Russia. The Justice Department’s suspicions focused on Democratic members of the House Intelligence Committee. Schiff is now chairman and was its leading Democrat at the time.

The files of at least twelve people – including a minor child – who had a link with the committee were seized in 2017 and early 2018.

Apple would only have handed over metadata and account information, not photos, emails or other content. Ultimately, those data and other evidence failed to show that the leak to the media came from the commission.

Apple was also ordered to remain silent, which expired this year. As a result, politicians couldn’t know they were being investigated until the tech company informed them this month. The Justice Department’s investigation was later reopened during Trump’s presidency.