The U.S. Justice Department's internal watchdog said on Tuesday that prosecutors' decision to subpoena phone and email records from members of Congress and their staff during President-elect Donald Trump's first term risked a chilling effect on congressional oversight.

WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors sidestepped some Justice Department rules when they seized the phone records of reporters as part of media leak investigations during the Trump administration, according to a new watchdog report being released as the aggressive practice of hunting for journalists’ sources could again be resurrected.

A Justice Department inspector general report raised concerns about the ways in which prosecutors in the first Trump administration seized records.

The U.S. Justice Department's internal watchdog said on Tuesday that prosecutors' decision to subpoena records from members of Congress and their staff during President-elect Donald Trump's first term risked a chilling effect on congressional oversight.

The Department of Justice secretly obtained phone records from two Democratic members of Congress and more than three dozen staffers during Donald Trump’s first administration, according to a new report from the agency’s watchdog.

The Justice Department's internal watchdog found no evidence of political motivation by federal prosecutors who subpoenaed the communication records of two Democratic members of Congress, congressional staffers as well as reporters as part of leak investigations during the first Trump administration.

The US Department of Justice’s internal watchdog expressed concern over investigations into information leaks during Donald Trump’s first administration. These investigations targeted members of Congress and the media.