US prosecutors refuse to say if they secretly obtained Don Lemon’s phone records

Federal prosecutors have declined to say whether they secretly obtained journalist Don Lemon’s phone records through an unusual administrative summons, according to a court filing by his lawyers.

Officials served Verizon in January with a request for records covering December 19 to January 20. The request did not come from a grand jury and was not a court-approved search warrant. Instead, the Department of Homeland Security invoked 19 USC 1509, an obscure law that allows the department to investigate records connected to customs matters.

Lemon’s lawyers said government records produced in the case do not make clear whether Verizon complied. They contacted prosecutors for clarification on Friday but had received no response by Monday. The Justice Department declined to comment, while Verizon and DHS did not respond to requests for comment.

Legal experts have expressed concern that the government is using the authority to collect information on journalists, activists, unions, nonprofits and online critics, potentially conflicting with Fourth Amendment privacy protections. Unlike a grand-jury subpoena, a 1509 summons does not require a company to comply. The company can instead force the government to seek enforcement in court.

DHS used the same type of summons to obtain six months of phone records from T-Mobile for Georgia Fort, an independent journalist who also covered the protest and was later charged. Fort’s lawyers said the government obtained the records without notifying her or giving her an opportunity to challenge the demand.

Lemon faces charges of conspiring to violate federal laws protecting religious expression after covering a January protest at a St Paul church. Activists said the pastor was a member of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Nearly all defendants in the case have sought dismissal, citing the government’s use of 1509 summonses among their arguments.

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