Did investigators access protected texts before any filter review, and who decided the safeguards were enough?

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The available records indicate investigators likely accessed at least some protected text messages before any filter review was completed, but that finding is based on committee-released DOJ materials and has not been independently adjudicated. According to the disclosures cited by Sens. Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson, DOJ had established a filter team to prevent the Special Counsel’s investigative team and FBI agents from seeing privileged material. The DOJ cover letter described that safeguard and then said the investigative team “apparently bypassed the Filter Team and directly accessed these text messages.” Records released by the senators say the National Archives delivered the text files on Aug. 21, 2023, and that senior prosecutor Thomas Windom downloaded them within about 30 minutes, with other team members reviewing them within an hour. If that timeline is accurate, the review began before any completed privilege screening. What remains unresolved is who specifically authorized that sequence and who decided the protections were sufficient. Grassley and Johnson have asked DOJ and FBI to identify the officials responsible for the privilege review, explain what filtering procedures were used, and say whether investigators viewed material that should have been screened first. Publicly available documents summarized in the reporting do not yet provide a definitive named decision-maker. So far, the strongest evidence points to an apparent bypass of safeguards, but the sec…

Jack Smith Probe Obtained 50 Journalists' Communications From 87 White House Phones

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Jack Smith Probe Obtained 50 Journalists' Communications From 87 White House Phones

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