Sessions, Rosenstein unaware of McGahn subpoena: source

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Neither former Attorney General Jeff Sessions nor former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein were aware of any Justice Department subpoena for records of Trump administration White House counsel Don McGahn while they were in office, a source close to Sessions and Rosenstein told Fox News.

The New York Times reported on Sunday that Apple informed McGahn that they had received a subpoena in February 2018 in connection with an email account McGahn had. Sessions and Rosenstein ran the Justice Department at the time, and current and former DOJ official told Fox News that normally such a move would be brought to the attention of the attorney general and deputy attorney general.

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"You would absolutely want the top-cover," one former senior DOJ official said. "The idea that you would do something that sensitive without alerting senior leadership is…suicide."

Current and former officials also noted that McGahn may not have been the target of an investigation, and that it could have been focused on someone he had been in communication with.  

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A Times source told the publication that Apple did not tell McGahn what they had turned over.

The Times report noted that Apple received the McGahn subpoena weeks after another subpoena related to an investigation of leaked information related to the Russia probe. That subpoena, reported by the Times last week, covered information including records belonging to California Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell, both fierce critics of Trump while he was in office.

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Neither Sessions nor Rosenstein had been aware of this either at the time, a source close to both said. Sessions had recused himself from all matters related to Russia.