'No guardrails': How Trump could weaponize the DOJ to intimidate Congress and media

'No guardrails': How Trump could weaponize the DOJ to intimidate Congress and media
Republican U.S. Senator John Thune (R-SD), who was elected to become the next Senate Majority Leader, looks on as he speaks to members of the media following the U.S. Senate Republicans leadership election, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., November 13, 2024. REUTERS/Nathan Howard

Republican U.S. Senator John Thune (R-SD), who was elected to become the next Senate Majority Leader, looks on as he speaks to members of the media following the U.S. Senate Republicans leadership election, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., November 13, 2024. REUTERS/Nathan Howard

Trump

President-elect Donald Trump ran openly on his plans to use the federal government to intimidate and prosecute his political enemies and journalists. Now, a new report shows how he may do this in a second term.

CNN reported Tuesday that the Department of Justice's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) published a detailed report on the first Trump administration's comprehensive leak investigations. Dozens of people were looped into the DOJ's net, including elected officials, journalists at major national news outlets and even Trump's own FBI Director-designate, Kash Patel, who at the time was a staffer for the Republican-controlled House Intelligence Committee.

The network found that Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) — the latter of whom was recently elected to the U.S. Senate — had their private communications subpoenaed along with reporters from the New York Times, the Washington Post and CNN. The OIG warned that issuing subpoenas based only 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."

READ MORE: 'We’re going to come after the people in the media': Trump ally calls for prosecuting journalists

"[The investigation] exposes congressional officials to having their records reviewed by the Department solely for conducting Congress’ constitutional authorized oversight duties and creating, at a minimum, the appearance of inappropriate interference by the executive branch in legitimate oversight activity by the legislative branch," the OIG continued.

According to CNN, the OIG's report showed that there were "no guardrails for prosecutors who want to subpoena communication records from members of Congress or their staff." Additionally, First Amendment protections put in place to protect journalists and their sources "were not properly followed." Trump's first DOJ was reportedly able to access elected officials' private communications without having to notify them, with former Attorney General Bill Barr noting that he was "not aware of any congressman’s records being sought in a leak case."

The OIG report suggests that if Patel were confirmed as the next FBI director, he could follow through on his previous threats to use the DOJ's resources to hound journalists. In 2023, Patel told Steve Bannon – Trump's former White House chief strategist – that if Trump won the election, he would make sure that reporters would face prosecution.

"We will go out and find the conspirators, not just in government but in the media," Patel said. "Yes, we’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections — we’re going to come after you. Whether it’s criminally or civilly, we’ll figure that out."

READ MORE: (Opinion) The press is Kash Patel's no. 1 enemy

Click here to read CNN's report in its entirety.

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