Two congressional Democrats have called for a government watchdog investigation into the Trump administration's alleged use of an obscure law to secretly gather records on journalists, non-profits, and unions. Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon and Representative Pramila Jayapal of Washington submitted their request to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), a nonpartisan congressional watchdog, on Tuesday.
The request highlights mounting scrutiny over the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) use of administrative summonses, typically related to customs matters, to make unilateral demands for information. The Guardian reported that Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the investigative arm of DHS, used these summonses to obtain six months of telephone records for a Minneapolis journalist, Georgia Fort. HSI also reportedly issued an administrative summons to Google for information on YouTube accounts belonging to Fort and Don Lemon, after a judge had twice rejected search warrant applications for the same information.
Wyden and Jayapal have asked the GAO to investigate HSI's use of summonses outside of customs matters and the inclusion of non-disclosure language in these documents. They also raised concerns about similar practices by the Department of Justice and the US Drug Enforcement Administration regarding subpoena language that pressures companies to keep requests private, even when the law may not prevent customer notification. The lawmakers also asked the GAO to identify any policy changes DHS made regarding administrative summonses after a 2017 inspector general report found improper use.
Additionally, Wyden and Jayapal have asked the judicial conference, which oversees federal court policies, to amend subpoena templates. Their aim is to clarify that recipients are permitted to disclose the existence of a subpoena unless a court order explicitly prohibits it.