On June 18, 2021, the Brennan Center and 22 other civil society groups sent a letter to the Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Chairs and Ranking Members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees urging Congress to investigate reports that the Department of Justice surveilled Members of Congress, their staffs, and their families as part of leak investigations. This follows recent news that the Justice Department also collected the private communications of reporters at various national media outlets as part of these investigations. In both cases, gag orders were deployed in order to keep the improper surveillance activities hidden.
The letter calls on the House and Senate Judiciary Committees to hold public hearings and to solicit testimony from former Attorneys General Jeff Sessions and Bill Barr, as well as former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. You can read the letter in its entirety below.
Letter re: Justice Department Surveillance of Congressmembers and Press by The Brennan Center for Justice on Scribd
