Trump first-term inquiry into leakers led to invasive searches, report finds

Justice department says lawyers overreached in aiming to discover who was leaking classified information in 2017

A Department of Justice (DoJ) investigation aimed at finding leakers during Donald Trump's first presidency resulted in invasive searches of congressional staffers' phone and email records, often without specific cause or the prior approval of the attorney general, a report published on Tuesday has found.

In findings that may trigger concerns of how Trump's incoming administration will behave, the department's inspector general concluded that DoJ lawyers overreached their authority in their inquiries aimed at discovering who was leaking classified information in 2017, in the early phases of the president-elect's first stint in the White House.