Democrats demand Barr, Sessions testify on Apple data subpoenas

WASHINGTON (thehill): The top two Senate Democrats on Friday called for multiple investigations into the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) decision to issue subpoenas seeking metadata records of House Intelligence Committee members as the Trump administration pursued leak investigations.

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) also called for two of Trump’s former attorneys general, William Barr and Jeff Sessions, to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“The revelation that the Trump Justice Department secretly subpoenaed metadata of House Intelligence Committee Members and staff and their families, including a minor, is shocking. This is a gross abuse of power and an assault on the separation of powers,” Schumer and Durbin said in a joint statement Friday. “This appalling politicization of the Department of Justice by Donald Trump and his sycophants must be investigated immediately by both the DOJ Inspector General and Congress.”

 “Former Attorneys General Barr and Sessions and other officials who were involved must testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee under oath. If they refuse, they are subject to being subpoenaed and compelled to testify under oath,” the Democratic leaders added.

Early in Trump’s presidency, his Justice Department subpoenaed Apple for metadata for House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), two staunch critics of Trump, and fought to place a gag order on the company.

The DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did the department’s Office of Inspector General.