On April 25, the Department of Justice rescinded a rule implemented by former President Joe Biden that protected journalists from having their phone records searched by government officials to identify leakers and whistleblowers.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, in an internal memo, cited the need to prevent “unauthorized disclosures that undermine President Trump’s policies.” It is not the job of the Department of Justice or the Attorney General to protect the policies of the President. Bondi also referenced leaks that the Trump administration experienced as a justification for the removal of the rule. Hypocritically, Bondi accused Biden of persecuting his political opponents, despite the fact that she just removed a rule that protected Biden’s political rivals, in an effort to hunt down Trump’s political opponents.
In Trump’s first term, records from The Washington Post, CNN, and The New York Times were subpoenaed to identify government leakers. Such investigations ceased in 2022 when former Attorney General Merrick Garland prohibited federal prosecutors from investigating in this manner.
