Trump Justice Dept. effort to learn source of leaks for Post stories came in Barr’s final days as AG, court documents show

washingtonpost.com ^ | July 13, 2021 | Devlin Barrett and Spencer S. Hsu

[ransomnote]

Newly unsealed court documents show the Trump Justice Department sought a court order for the communications records of three Washington Post reporters in the final days of William P. Barr’s tenure as attorney general in 2020, as prosecutors sought to identify sources for three articles written in 2017.

The papers also reveal the service provider that was the recipient of the secret court order: Proofpoint Corporation, a firm that supplies data security services. Using Proofpoint as a means of trying to get the reporters’ email records suggests prosecutors were thinking creatively about where they might be able to find reporters’ data, beyond just standard email providers like Google or Microsoft. Representatives for Proofpoint did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In addition, the documents indicate the extent to which federal investigators strongly suspected the disclosures of classified information were coming from Congress.

The new details about the investigation come as senior Justice Department officials are working on regulations to limit the ways in which they can pursue reporters’ data when hunting for the sources of classified information.

Amid an outcry from First Amendment advocates, President Biden has called for an end to the practice of seizing journalists’ phone and email records.

The 12-page application for the court order — signed by Michael Sherwin, then-acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia — seeks the email records of three reporters whose identities are redacted in the public version of the document. 
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[Gene Eric]

Trump’s Justice Dept?

FU, WAPO — that was Obama’s corrupt DOJ.

[DesertRhino]

Fact: Trump never HAD a Justice department. DC had one that was 100% arrayed against him though.

[pepsi_junkie]

What's the Washington Post's position on the NSA unmasking Tucker Carlson and leaking his mail?

Oh. Silence. Then STFU about the sanctity of journalists.

[AnthonySoprano]

‘
Like, I’m gonna believe WAPO

[montag813]

What did Trump expect when he named a Bush re-tread to AG?

This is why I and many other FReepers didn't like this pick at the time.

[NWFree]

Leakers should be executed

[bitt]

p

[AndyJackson]

The papers also reveal the service provider that was the recipient of the secret court order: Proofpoint Corporation, a firm that supplies data security services. Using Proofpoint as a means of trying to get the reporters’ email records

The message is, in case anyone missed it, that the gubmint doesn't control its own destiny. Private contractors do. Dick Cheney created it that way. The WOT was the new bone to the MIC that was suffering from the collapse of the soviet union.

[drjimmy]

Read the first sentence again.

[Gene Eric]

As in Obama holdovers, lackeys, Deep State tools, etc.

[drjimmy]

Still not sure what you are getting at. The request for the court order was filed on December 22, 2020. Bill Barr was in charge of the Justice Department, and the US attorney who signed the request was Michael Sherwin, who had earlier been key in trying to get the Justice Department to drop the charges against Michael Flynn.

[Vaduz]

Suspected the disclosures of classified information were coming from Congress.

The purge and replace list just grew remember to vote.