Watchdog group sues for records on spying targeting Trump associate Michael Caputo
The article reports that Judicial Watch,a conservative watchdog group,has filed lawsuits against the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) for failing to adequately respond to Freedom of Details Act requests concerning email surveillance of Michael Caputo,a former adviser to Donald trump’s campaign. Judicial Watch alleges that Caputo’s Gmail account was secretly surveilled via a search warrant in 2023 shortly after he joined Trump’s 2024 campaign. The group seeks subpoenas issued to Google, communications between federal officials about Caputo, and investigative documents mentioning him, suspecting the surveillance was conducted in bad faith.
Caputo was previously interviewed during Robert Mueller’s investigation into Trump-Russia collusion but has never been charged. Despite denials of wrongdoing, Caputo’s past business dealings and connections with Russia have drawn suspicion. The article also highlights the personal and financial toll the Russia investigation took on Caputo,including legal costs and health issues. Judicial Watch claims the spying demonstrates politicization by Biden-era agencies and insists the records must be released promptly. The DOJ and ODNI did not comment on the lawsuits.
Watchdog group sues for records on spying targeting Trump associate Michael Caputo
A right-leaning watchdog group announced Thursday that it has filed lawsuits against the Department of Justice and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence after it said the agencies “failed to respond adequately” to its Freedom of Information Act requests for records related to email surveillance of former Trump campaign adviser Michael Caputo.
Caputo, a longtime adviser to President Donald Trump, was subject to what the group, Judicial Watch, described as a “secret search warrant” of his Gmail account in 2023, shortly after he joined Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign. Judicial Watch sought the subpoenas issued to Google demanding access to Caputo’s account, copies of communications between federal officials regarding Caputo, and records of investigative documents produced by the agencies in question that mention Caputo. After Judicial Watch failed to receive a response that satisfied its concerns, the organization began to speculate that the surveillance of Caputo was carried out in bad faith.
“The evidence shows that the Biden FBI and Justice Department were spying on the Trump campaign,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement. “Caputo used his emails to help devise strategy for the Trump campaign, and the Biden gang was rooting through it all! The lawsuits show that the lawfare and spying against Trump was only paused. These records can’t be released soon enough.”
In 2018, Caputo was interviewed as part of then-special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Trump campaign’s alleged collusion with Russia to sway the 2016 presidential election. Previously, Caputo had been contacted by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in 2017 with a request to provide documents and testimony related to its separate investigation into the alleged collusion plot. Though Caputo has never been charged with anything related to the Russia collusion investigation, critics have remained skeptical of him over his past business and personal ties to Russia.
Caputo’s consulting business had some operations in Russia, previously worked with the Russian majority state-owned corporation Gazprom, and met with Russian national Henry Greenberg after Greenberg claimed to have damaging information about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Caputo denies having known that Greenberg was a Russian at the time of their meeting and has further denied discussing Russia with Trump in ways relevant to the campaign.
“The only time the President and I talked about Russia was in 2013, when he simply asked me in passing what it was like to live there in the context of a dinner conversation,” Caputo said in 2017.
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Caputo’s life has been turned upside down by the Russia investigation.
“It’s very expensive and nobody’s called me and offered to help,” Caputo said in an interview with the Washington Examiner in 2017. “The problem is, it’s very specialized representation, so it takes a certain type of attorney, and they’re quite competent. And you’ll pay for competency.”
Caputo told the Washington Examiner that he had to liquidate his children’s college fund to cover the costs of legal representation. He also developed head and neck cancer, from which he has since recovered, while under scrutiny from investigators.
“Russiagate almost killed me,” Caputo said. “It was 100% stress.”
The DOJ and ODNI did not respond to requests for comment.
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