Reporters’ phone records could again be searched, Justice Dept. says

 

Attorney General Pam Bondi rescinded a Biden-era policy that prevented officials from using such tactics in leak investigations.

The Justice Department on Friday rescinded a Biden-era policy that prevented officials from searching reporters’ phone records when trying to identify government personnel who have leaked sensitive information to news organizations.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said in an internal memo that the media should not be afforded such protections, noting leaks of government information during the Trump administration.

“This conduct is illegal and wrong and it must stop,” she wrote in the memo, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post.

The attorney general said she supports an independent and free press and stated that the Justice Department would search reporters’ communication records only when other investigative methods had been exhausted. Bondi said she must approve all attempts to question or arrest journalists.

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