House Dems demand DOJ stop stonewalling after explosive report exposes Trump-era spying scandal

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) has been trying to get information about the Justice Department seizing personal data from him and his family, but the department has been stonewalling him -- even under President Joe Biden's administration.

The Justice Department subpoenaed metadata from Apple for Schiff, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) and others connected to the House Intelligence Committee to investigate alleged leaks, but the department still won't tell the California Democrat everyone who was targeted and whether the list included any Republicans, reported the Washington Post's Greg Sargent.

"We have repeatedly posed basic and readily answerable questions to the department for more than a month, but have received virtually no information beyond a confirmation that the investigation is closed," said one official on the committee. "The department's refusal to provide information is unacceptable."

Schiff and other Democrats are asking for an investigation by the department's inspector general, but Biden's attorney general Merrick Garland has so far been reluctant to take a more prominent role in the affair.

"I know he's trying to be careful not to do anything that looks politically motivated," said Noah Bookbinder, the president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). "But this goes to the core of reestablishing a credible, nonpolitical justice system. He needs to take steps to ensure that this is being investigated, and assure the public of that."

The timeline remains unclear, but the reporting shows the initial requests for data came from then-attorney general Jeff Sessions and were picked back up by William Barr when he took over the department and ordered prosecutors to continue the investigation, which was clearly desired by former president Donald Trump.

"If they don't stop [leaking], I can't imagine that people are not going to go after them and find out what's happening," Trump said in February 2020, after repeatedly accusing Schiff of leaking details of the Russia probe to the media.