The Justice Department during President-elect Trump’s first term privately reviewed the communications of a wider pool of people than previously known in its efforts to track down leakers, obtaining the records of more than 40 congressional staffers along with two Democratic lawmakers and several journalists.

The detail was revealed after the department’s Office of Inspector General reviewed the first Trump administration’s efforts to track down those who may have leaked information about the department’s investigations related to the 2016 election, a bombshell first revealed in 2021, after the Biden Justice Department moved in court to lift the nondisclosure orders originally sought by its predecessors.

The department in 2017 accessed the records of then-Reps. Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell, both Democrats of California, as well as reporters for CNN, The Washington Post and The New York Times, it was revealed in 2021.

Tuesday’s 96-page report concludes that seeking the records of lawmakers and staffers did not violate any Justice Department policies on the books at the time but the move nonetheless “risks chilling Congress’s ability to conduct oversight of the executive branch … and creat[es], at a minimum, the appearance of inappropriate interference by the executive branch in legitimate oversight activity by the legislative branch.”

And though not required, the Justice Department never informed the court it was seeking records for members of Congress or congressional staffers.

The report also concluded that the agents seeking the records were not motivated by political animus, as they sought the records of 21 Democratic staffers, 20 Republicans staffers and two nonpartisan staffers who, like Schiff and Swalwell, go unnamed in the report. Instead, it was the targets’ “close proximity” in receiving information they were entitled to through their jobs and the publishing of news articles.

CNN reports that Kash Patel, Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, was among those whose records were obtained. Patel has previously complained about the matter, writing in a newsletter, “The DOJ illegally spied on me during the Russia Gate investigation!” Patel last year sued the Justice Department for secretly seeking access to his personal email account.

The report found the Justice Department did violate some its policies when seeking the communications of eight different journalists at the three outlets.

It noted the department failed to obtain the required director of national intelligence certification in one investigation, and it’s unclear if it provided that certification to then-Attorney General William Barr before he signed off on another investigation.

The department also failed to get Barr’s “express authorization” for the nondisclosure orders that prevented Google and other tech companies from informing the reporters.

“DOJ had substantially overhauled its News Media Policy in 2014 and 2015 following serious criticisms concerning DOJ’s efforts to obtain communications records of members of the news media,” the report stated.

“We were troubled that these failures occurred only a few years after this overhaul.”

The report determined that under Trump, the Justice Department obtained 40 nondisclosure orders (NDOs) “related to the compulsory process that was issued for records of Members of Congress and congressional staffers, most of which were renewed at least once, with some extended for up to 4 years.”

Those petitions also “relied on general assertions about the need for non-disclosure rather than on case-specific justifications.”

The Biden administration initially moved to keep the NDOs in place for the journalists when they came into office.

But Attorney General Merrick Garland shifted the department’s policy in October 2022, placing new limitations on the Justice Department’s ability to subpoena journalists, though it does not bar the practice entirely.

Garland also shifted policy to require the department’s Public Integrity Section to notify the Criminal Division’s assistant attorney general of any investigations involving members of Congress or congressional staffers, including regarding any subpoenas. The attorney general would also need to be informed.

But House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner (R-Ohio) on Tuesday called for Congress to impose new limitations rather than rely on policy.

“At the time, the Department of Justice did not require that the attorney general be notified. The new rules that are put in place by Attorney General Garland would require the attorney general be involved. Those rules, I think, are very important. It’s great the attorney general has done that, but it is not enough,” he said during an appearance on CNN.

“You shouldn’t just have one branch of government being able to access the documents and subpoenaing another branch of government. I think this requires court review. There certainly are circumstances in which those documents should be able to be accessed, but this shows absolute abuses of authority that are to require statutes.”

Updated at 12:26 p.m. EST