Mueller investigated ‘a member of the news media’ suspected of participating in the 2016 plot to hack and share Dems’ emails, the DOJ said
![Robert Mueller et al. posing for the camera: Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller testifies before a House Judiciary Committee hearing about his report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election in the Rayburn House Office Building July 24, 2019 in Washington, DC. Mueller will later testify before the House Intelligence Committee in back-to-back hearings on Capitol Hill. Jonathan Ernst/Getty Images](https://www.bing.com/news/{"default":{"load":"default","w":"80","h":"40","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/AAO154o.img?h=400&w=799&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=1381&y=1119"},"size3column":{"load":"default","w":"62","h":"31","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/AAO154o.img?h=312&w=624&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=1381&y=1119"},"size2column":{"load":"default","w":"62","h":"31","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/AAO154o.img?h=312&w=624&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=1381&y=1119"}})
© Jonathan Ernst/Getty Images
Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller testifies before a House Judiciary Committee hearing about his report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election in the Rayburn House Office Building July 24, 2019 in Washington, DC. Mueller will later testify before the House Intelligence Committee in back-to-back hearings on Capitol Hill. Jonathan Ernst/Getty Images
- The DOJ released a new amendment regarding Mueller’s Russia investigation.
- It said he investigated “a member of the news media” suspected in a plot to hack and share Dems’ emails.
- The DOJ said it issued a subpoena in 2018 authorizing the seizure of phone records from that person.
- See more stories on Insider’s business page.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller had investigated an unidentified “member of the news media” who was suspected of hacking senior Democrats’ emails accounts and leaking their contents during the 2016 election, The New York Times reported, citing a new Justice Department release.
Load Error
The DOJ announced the news in an amendment published on Wednesday to a report about the department’s use of subpoenas and other legal tools used in 2018 against members of the media.
Between 2017 and 2019, Mueller led an investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 general election. It was initiated partly because email accounts belonging to senior Democratic figures, including John Podesta, were hacked and subsequently leaked.
Mueller ultimately charged 12 Russian security officers for the email hack, and accused WikiLeaks of disseminating them with the purpose of interfering in the 2016 election. The report also did not find sufficient evidence to charge anyone from former President Donald Trump’s campaign with illegally conspiring or coordinating with Russia.
The Wednesday DOJ amendment said the department had issued a subpoena against an unidentified person in the news media “in connection with an investigation into an alleged conspiracy involving persons or entities associated with a foreign government hacking the computers of a United States political party’s central organization.”
The amendment did not specify on what grounds the person was…