Republican senators are demanding answers from the Department of Justice (DOJ) after news emerged this week that the DOJ may have collected information such as email addresses, phone numbers, and social media contacts of Congressional staffers during its Russia investigation.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) wrote a letter this week to the DOJ expressing “great concern” at the news and demanding answers from the agency.
The senators demanded to know what steps the DOJ has taken to ensure that political investigations are not conducted on currently serving Members of Congress, and they asked for a list of each instance where the DOJ has requested data on current or former congressional staff since 2017.
The DOJ has yet to respond to the senators’ requests for information but has said that it is aware of the concerns. The agency is conducting an internal review of how it conducted the investigation and how it collected information on congressional staff members.
