Robert Mueller 'investigated a journalist suspected of participating in the 2016 plot to hack and share Democrats' emails, Biden's DOJ says
Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller investigated 'a member of the news media suspected of participating in the conspiracy' to hack senior Democrats' emails in the lead up to the 2016 presidential election.
A Justice Department memo revealed the information Wednesday but did not specify who the journalist was.
The disclosure described a probe into an alleged conspiracy involving foreign government-associated actors engaged in 'hacking the computers of a United States political party’s central organization.'
In 2017 Mueller took over the Justice Department's investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election.
One of the events that set off the probe was the Russian-backed hacking of Democratic Party emails, which revealed communications of Hillary Clinton campaign chair John Podesta, ex-DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, and other top operatives and donors.
According to the DOJ's release, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein authorized a grand jury subpoena for the unidentified journalist's phone records in 2018 and a search warrant application for the journalist's 'internet cloud and email accounts.'
The new disclosure reveals then- Acting Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, acting as AG, authorized a subpoena and a search warrant application for an unnamed 'member of the news media' during the Mueller probe
Rosenstein also approved seeking a voluntary interview with the journalist and issuing a grand jury subpoena for their testimony.
'All of this information was necessary to further the investigation of whether the member of the news media was involved in the conspiracy to unlawfully obtain and utilize the information from the hacked political party or other victims,' the disclosure concluded.
But it left blank questions into what the nature of their participation was, and whether Mueller's investigators issued the subpoena or ever got the person to testify.
No member of the news media was ever charged in connection with the hack.
It also didn't specify where the journalist worked or in what capacity - leaving open whether they were a commentator, reporter, editor or something else across the media spectrum.
The only known American member of the news media subpoenaed in Mueller's probe is Jerome Corsi, a right-wing commentator called to testify over his connections to Trump ally Roger Stone.
But the report didn't specify whether the journalist was involved in Stone's trial or any other prospective or filed charges from Mueller's investigation.
Jerome Corsi, a right-wing commentator, is the only member of the news media known to have been subpoenaed by the Muller probe, in connection with the Roger Stone trial. But it's not known who the person is or whether any information gathered for any prosecution
Over the course of his investigation Mueller indicted 34 individuals and three Russian entities.
US intelligence officials blamed the Russian government for the Democratic Party hacks. In 2016 the CIA told US officials the Kremlin directed the hacks and subsequently handed over the information to Wikileaks.
Intel officials also concluded Russia directed a hack into Republican Party emails but didn't release any GOP communications.
The disclosure was an amendment to an earlier report on DOJ information gathering and prosecution from news media entities.
The initial report, released under the Trump administration, did not include the newly-released information.
US intelligence officials blamed Russian for directing the 2016 hack and subsequent leak of hundreds of top Democrats' communications, including Hillary Clinton campaign chair John Podesta
Also newly disclosed was the authorization of grand jury subpoenas to two 'news media entities' in connection to a prosecution involving 'rioting and conspiracy to riot' in 2018.
The subpoenas compel the unnamed entities to hand over 'the unedited and original version of footage of one of the defendants assaulting a female victim.'
It states that an edited version of the footage was published to a news outlet's website and that the company sold the content to another one.
The subpoena was authorized because the initial outlet 'deferred to the entity to which it ultimately sold the content,' but that company had refused to hand over the footage voluntarily.
Like the other disclosure it does not specify persons or parties involved but mentioned it led to 'the successful prosecution of the defendant.'