Donald Trump’s nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel, ignored questions on Tuesday from reporters about the revelation that Trump’s Department of Justice spied on dozens as part of a leak investigation.
Patel walked down a hallway speaking to an aide as reporters peppered him with questions about the recent disclosure. Patel did not acknowledge the questions and did address concerns about the possible abuse of power.
Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz released a report on Tuesday detailing actions undertaken by the DOJ in 2017 and 2018, when Trump was president. The department secretly got hold of phone records from two members of Congress and 43 congressional staffers as part of an investigation into leaks of classified information.
Horowitz determined that the DOJ failed to respect the separation of power between the executive and legislative branches of the government. Instead, the Trump DOJ exercised a level of superiority over what is constitutionally a coequal branch.
