The department revealed in early May that it had, during the Trump administration, secretly obtained the phone records of three current and former Washington Post journalists and tried to obtain their email records. At first, the department sought to defend the practice as rare but necessary to prevent disclosures of classified information. But on May 21, President Biden said it was “simply wrong” to go after reporter records, and his administration began rewriting the policy.

Source: Washington Post July 19, 2021 15:48 UTC