Former President Donald Trump’s appointed head of the Department of Justice’s national security, John Demers, has decided to step down at the end of this month.
What We Know:
- Demers is leaving his position amidst an investigation into the DOJ, looking into journalists’ phone records at various major news networks and emails of Democratic House representatives. Networks such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, and CNN were targeted while the DOJ was conducting a leaks investigation. Demers was in charge of the original investigation into the leaks while Trump was in office.
- Trump-appointed Demers into the position in 2018, and he is the longest-standing Senate-confirm personal from Trump’s administration. Demers originally planned to leave the DOJ when President Joe Biden was sworn into office but decided to stay until his children were home for the summer.
- The DOJ has been criticized for years for using subpoenaing reporters’ tactics and giving gag orders to media outlets so that they won’t speak on the DOJ’s demands for private records. Republican and Democratic administrations have both allowed the DOJ to use this tactic to retrieve sources’ names. Despite both parties using this strategy, Democrats are leading the charge in investigating the actions done while under the Trump administration.
- In 2020, former Attorney General William P. Barr signed off on seizing the records of CNN and The Washington Post journalists. However, no one knows who gave the order to seize the records from The New York Times. In 2018, House Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee had their data from Microsoft and Apple leaked. The tech companies were issued gag orders the weeks leading up to Demers’s confirmation. Even though Demers didn’t give orders to seize records, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) asks Demers to be subpoenaed to discuss what he was aware of regarding the leaks investigations.
- Biden has been quoted saying it’s “simply, simply wrong” for the DOJ to seize journalist’s records. White House press secretary Jen Psaki has stated that the Biden administration was unaware of the media outlets receiving gag orders until recently. Biden now ensures that the Justice Department will no longer obtain records during leaks investigations or issue out subpoenas or gag orders to media outlets.
Justice Department spokesman Anthony Coley said, “in a change to its longstanding practice, the department will not seek compulsory legal process in leak investigations to obtain source information from members of the news media doing their jobs. The department strongly values a free press…and is committed to taking all appropriate steps to ensure the independence of journalists.”
Acting federal prosecutor Mark J. Lesko will take over as interim head of national security until the Senate confirms a permanent option. Uber executive Matthew G. Olsen is Biden’s top choice to replace Demers. No word yet on what Demers plans are moving forward or what the DOJ’s new process of conducting leaks investigations will be.
