Looks like Trump's DOJ was doing some Deep Stating

Long article here

Trump’s DOJ secretly obtained records of his FBI pick Kash Patel, lawmakers, staffers and media in leak investigations

https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/10/politics/justice-department-spying-congress-patel-trump-ig-report/index.html

For example, prosecutors did not have to inform Justice Department leadership that the records they sought were those of members of Congress – and Bill Barr, who was the attorney general at the time, has said he was “not aware of any congressman’s records being sought in a leak case.” Barr declined to be interviewed as part of the inspector general review of the matter.

The report also notes the Justice Department obtained non-disclosure orders in 40 of the congressional cases, meaning that members and their staff were not aware their communications records had been seized. In seeking those orders, prosecutors were not required to say with any specificity whose records they were going after.

In one leak investigation, prosecutors did not obtain the required certification from the Director of National Intelligence, the inspector general said. In another, they obtained the required certification, but it is not clear whether it was ever provided to Barr.

Prosecutors also failed to obtain Barr’s approval, which was a required step in the process to get non-disclosure orders that stopped reporters from learning that their records had been seized.