The New York Times is reporting that a journalist was notified that the Department of Justice has seized private records of their personal email accounts and phone calls in the course of an investigation into leaks from the government. Here's what happened The Department of Justice notified reporter Ali Watkins in February via a letter that her private records had been seized by the government. The letter read, "you are hereby notified that the United States Department of Justice has received the following records pursuant to legal process: historical customer records, business records, and subscriber account information, not including the content of communications (except for communications between the subscriber and the provider) from account inception to November 2017, or certain accounts associated with [your] Google ID," and two of her email addresses and a phone number. This is the first time it's been confirmed that the government has seized records of a journalist under Trump - but it happened under former President Obama as well. Watkins worked for Politico and for Buzzfeed during the periods of which the government seized records. Watkins’s personal lawyer Mark J. MacDougall released a statement to the New York Times, saying, “It’s always disconcerting when a journalist’s telephone records are obtained by the Justice Department — through a grand jury subpoena or other legal process. Whether it was really necessary here will depend on the nature of the investigation and the scope of any charges.” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that he would make it a special focus of his to shut down leaks from the government that many believe were being orchestrated by a "deep state" of Obama holdovers who were opposed to the president's policies. “Are we living in Nazi Germany?” The president has also decried the leaks during his tenure, and has lashed out from his Twitter account at who he believes is responsible. One stinging criticism from the president compared the intelligence services to those in Nazi Germany. "Intelligence agencies should never have allowed this fake news to 'leak' into the public. One last shot at me," he tweeted. "Are we living in Nazi Germany?" The report is likely to inspire more criticism from the news media that has bemoaned the hostility coming from the president since before the election. Trump has promised to attack the media over what he perceives as bias against Republicans.<doc-sep>Crossing a line that the Obama administration was previously attacked for breaching, the Department of Justice seized the phone and email records of a national security reporter at the New York Times in the Trump administration's effort to stop government leaks. One of the most extreme attacks on press freedom under Obama was when DOJ obtained the phone records of various journalists to find their sources. The Right (and some on the left) went ballistic. Now the Trump DOJ is doing it. What will be their reaction? https://t.co/FiHtnUwOcK — Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 8, 2018 Trump is attempting to intimidate journalists and their sources, and prevent the public from learning about government misconduct. https://t.co/mStwwYxw90 — ACLU (@ACLU) June 8, 2018 As the Times reported on Friday, journalist Ali Watkins was informed by the DOJ earlier this year that the department had obtained records for two of her email accounts and her phone number, going back several years up until November 2017. The department did not obtain the content of her phone calls or emails. "Freedom of the press is a cornerstone of democracy, and we believe that communications between journalists and their sources demand protection," Eileen Murphy, spokesperson for the Times, said in a statement. "This decision by the Justice Department will endanger reporters' ability to promise confidentiality to their sources and, ultimately, undermine the ability of a free press to shine a much-needed light on government actions. That should be a grave concern to anyone who cares about an informed citizenry." I've worked with @AliWatkins. She's among the most dogged out there. This is a gross, gross use government power and chilling decision on the part of the Trump adm https://t.co/nx07PUhbBD — Sam Stein (@samstein) June 8, 2018 SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT Never Miss a Beat. Get our best delivered to your inbox. The records were reviewed as part of the DOJ's investigation into James Wolfe, director of security for the Senate Intelligence Committee, whose role involved protecting classified information shared with committee members and interacting with witnesses who met with the panel. Watkins was targeted in the investigation due to a previous romantic relationship she had had with Wolfe. Last year, she refused to answer questions from the FBI about her relationship with Wolfe and denied that he was a source for her articles. Watkins has covered a number of high-profile national security stories during the Trump administration, including former Trump advisers Carter Page and George Papadopoulos' communications with Russians during and before the Trump campaign. News of the Trump administration's investigation into Watkins' communications comes a day after Wolfe's arrest and indictment on charges of lying to the FBI about his communications with reporters. He has been accused of giving sensitive information to at least two reporters. The Trump administration's probe into a journalist's personal data carries echoes of the DOJ's seizure of similar records under President Barack Obama. In 2013, the department obtained records of 20 personal and work phone lines of several Associated Press reporters. The records included outgoing calls and were seized as the administration was attempting to crack down on leaks. At the time, the news outlet called the seizure "a serious interference with AP's constitutional rights to gather and report the news."<doc-sep>
The Department of Justice reportedly seized a New York Times reporter's phone and email records this year in an effort to probe the leaking of classified information, the first known instance of the DOJ going after a journalist's data under President Trump Donald TrumpTrump lashes out after grand jury seated for New York criminal probe Schumer tees up vote on Jan. 6 commission bill Senators struggle to save Jan. 6 commission MORE. The Times reported Thursday that the DOJ seized years' worth of records from journalist Ali Watkins's time as a reporter at BuzzFeed News and Politico before she joined the Times in 2017 as a federal law enforcement reporter, according to the report Thursday. Watkins was alerted by a prosecutor in February that the DOJ had years of records and subscriber information from telecommunications companies such as Google and Verizon for two email accounts and a phone number belonging to her. ADVERTISEMENT Investigators did not receive the content of the records, according to the Times. The newspaper reported that it learned of the letter on Thursday. "It’s always disconcerting when a journalist’s telephone records are obtained by the Justice Department — through a grand jury subpoena or other legal process,” Watkin's attorney Mark MacDougall said in a statement to the Times. “Whether it was really necessary here will depend on the nature of the investigation and the scope of any charges.” The Hill has reached out to the Justice Department for comment. FBI agents reportedly contacted Watkins about a previous three-year romantic relationship with the Senate Intelligence Committee’s former director of security, James Wolfe, as part of a probe into unauthorized leaks. Watkins reportedly did not answer the agents' questions, however. Watkins told the Times that Wolfe did not act as a source for information during their relationship. She also said she informed editors at BuzzFeed, Politico and the Times of the relationship. BuzzFeed News editor Ben Smith declined to comment for the Times report, while Politico didn't immediately respond to its request for comment. Attorney General Jeff Sessions Jefferson (Jeff) Beauregard SessionsCNN reporter's phone and email records secretly obtained by Trump administration: report Biden looks to expand legal assistance for minorities, low-income Americans One quick asylum fix: How Garland can help domestic violence survivors MORE announced last year that the DOJ had tripled the number of leak investigations it was conducting compared to the number under the Obama administration, which prosecuted more leak cases than all other administrations.