Last Updated:
Donald Trump has announced Indian-American Kash Patel as his pick for the FBI.
Donald Trump’s FBI chief pick Kash Patel (AP Image)
The Justice Department has covertly acquired phone records from two members of Congress and 43 staff members, including Indian-American Kash Patel, US President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, CNN reported citing a watchdog report released on Tuesday.
The DOJ move came as part of extensive leak investigations during Trump’s first term as President.
The new report from the inspector general of the Justice Department raises concerns about the department’s move to trace reporters’ sources by scrutinising a wide-ranging and bipartisan group of federal employees who had access to classified information.
Though Patel and two other members of Congress do not feature in the report, however, sources told CNN that the new FBI chief pick was a target of the DOJ along with Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell.
At the time, Patel was a staffer for the Republican-led House Intelligence Committee. Schiff has since been elected to the Senate and officially assumed office on Monday.
The prosecutors also sought details including the emails from journalists at CNN, The Washington Post, and The New York Times, the report said.
The report revealed that DOJ investigators conducted a wide-ranging sweep, targeting individuals who may have had access to the sensitive information that was leaked.
The inspector general wrote that seeking records is only based on “the close proximity in time between access to classified information and subsequent publication of the information… risks chilling Congress’s ability to conduct oversight of the executive branch”.
The inspector general’s review ended without slapping charges against anyone as he found no evidence, suggesting that the career prosecutors handling the leak investigation were driven by political motives, CNN reported.
- Location :
Washington D.C., United States of America (USA)
