Attorney General Merrick B. Garland is expected to meet with representatives for CNN, The New York Times and The Washington Post following revelations about the Department of Justice having sought their reporters’ email and phone records as part of apparent leak investigations launched during the last administration.
Each of the news organizations reported this week that its representatives are set to meet with Mr. Garland on Monday. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation.
CNN, New York Times and Washington Post journalists all reported in recent weeks about having just learned the Justice Department initiated efforts during the Trump administration to obtain their records.
President Biden called it “simply wrong” for the Justice Department to seize the records of reporters when the efforts became public last month and said that he would not let it happen in his administration.
More recently, Mr. Garland testified Wednesday on Capitol Hill that subpoenas will no longer be sought for the records of reporters who may be in contact with individuals under federal investigation.
“We will not use compulsory process in leak investigations to require reporters to provide information about their sources when they are doing their job as reporters,” Mr. Garland said.
Mr. Garland plans to discuss concerns raised by revelations that recently emerged about the Justice Department having sought the phone and email records of several journalists, each of the papers reported.
Kristine Coratti Kelly, a Washington Post spokeswoman, said the meeting is being held “to understand what happened and discuss policy changes to prevent a recurrence,” the paper reported.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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