Federal prosecutors going after Steve Bannon for contempt of congress revealed on Wednesday that they sought no approval from higher ranking Justice Department officials before they took the unusual move to spy on his lawyer—in addition to erroneously targeting a number of other Americans with similar names.
That action seemed to disturb U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, who repeatedly asked prosecutors why they thought it proper—or even relevant—to secretly gather a log of defense attorney Robert Costello’s private phone calls, text messages, and emails.
“What’s unique here is that the government didn’t just go get regular records,” Nichols said. “Why is that an appropriate first move?”
