(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department has rescinded a policy implemented during the Biden administration that restricted prosecutors from seizing reporters’ records in criminal investigations, according to an internal memo obtained by ABC News.
The move could signal a broader effort by Trump-appointed leadership to more aggressively pursue leaks coming from within the administration and directly target journalists for their reporting.
It was not immediately clear whether the impending policy change was prompted by any current ongoing investigation being pursued by the Trump Justice Department. But in her memo rescinding the policy, Attorney General Pam Bondi pointed to recent alleged leaks of potentially classified information to The New York Times.
“Federal government employees intentionally leaking sensitive information to the media undermines the ability of the Department of Justice to uphold the rule of law, protect civil rights, and keep America safe. This conduct is illegal and wrong, and it must stop,” Bondi said. “Therefore, I have concluded that it is necessary to rescind (former Attorney General) Merrick Garland’s policies precluding the Department of Justice from seeking records and compelling testimony from members of the news media in order to identify and punish the source of improper leaks.”
Bondi added she has directed the DOJ’s Office of Legal Policy to publish new language that reflects the department “will continue to employ procedural protections to limit the use of compulsory legal process to obtain information from or records of members of the news media, which include enhanced approval and advance-notice procedures.”
“These procedural protections recognize that investigative techniques relating to newsgathering are an extraordinary measure to be deployed as a last resort when essential to a successful investigation or prosecution,” Bondi said.
The 2022 Biden-era policy was formalized following extensive negotiations between news outlets and Justice Department leadership under Garland. It restricted prosecutors from using “compulsory process” such as subpoenas, search warrants or other court orders to seize reporters’ records with very limited exceptions.
It was implemented after the department disclosed several instances during the previous Trump administration where prosecutors secretly obtained records from several journalists from The New York Times, The Washington Post and CNN as part of criminal leak investigations.
“Because freedom of the press requires that members of the news media have the freedom to investigate and report the news, the new regulations are intended to provide enhanced protection to members of the news media from certain law enforcement tools and actions that might unreasonably impair news gathering,” Garland said in a statement announcing the revised media guidelines.
Last month, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the opening of a criminal investigation into the leak of an intelligence document reported by The New York Times related to the Tren de Aragua gang that he described as “inaccurate, but nevertheless classified.”
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has also said her department and the FBI are pursing criminal charges against officials who she said have leaked details about pending deportation operations to members of the media.
Prior to his confirmation as FBI director, Kash Patel said in several media appearances that the Trump administration would “come after” journalists who reported on President Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss.
“We’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections,” Patel said in a 2023 podcast interview with Steve Bannon. “Whether it’s criminally or civilly, we’ll figure that out.”
The policy shift also comes as DOJ and FBI leadership have downplayed recent revelations of senior Trump officials sharing sensitive details about military operations in Yemen over the encrypted app Signal, which national security experts have argued likely included classified information that would normally prompt some kind of federal investigation.
Bondi signaled late last month that any criminal investigation into the matter was unlikely.
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