Officials from the first Trump administration are alleging they received notices from Google shortly before they returned to office that they were being probed by the FBI under the Biden administration and the web giant was unable to tell them because of a court order.
Dan Scavino, who is now White House Deputy Chief of Staff and assistant to the president, described the matter as ‘Biden lawfare’ kicking in after he ‘patriotically and proudly’ served during Trump’s first term.
‘Google received and responded to a legal process issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation compelling the release of information related to your Google account. A court order previously prohibited Google from notifying you of the legal process…’ Scavino shared on X from an email he said he received from Google five weeks before Trump returned to the White House.
‘I’ve never shared this — but this is a small taste of the INSANITY that many of us went through — right here in the United States of America. LAWFARE at its finest. A Complete and Total Disgrace!!!!!’ he added.
Less than a half-hour after Scavino’s post, FBI Director Kash Patel responded to him saying ‘I got one of those too…’
Jeff Clark, the current acting administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, then chimed in Saturday morning, saying that he, too, received a similar message.
‘Indeed, a whole Jack Smith team was assigned to go through my emails after there was a privilege review,’ Clark wrote on X in reference to the former special counsel.
‘But that group of lawyers ignored my religious pastor privilege, marital privilege, and other privileges and basically shipped all they could to Jack Smith. But it still cost me tens of thousands to try to protect my communications,’ he added.
Smith was tapped by former Attorney General Merrick Garland to probe allegations that Trump sought to overturn the 2020 election results, and later investigated the handling of classified documents that were uncovered during a raid at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago compound.
‘My medical records and other private communications had nothing to do with the 2020 election. They were no one’s business. But it didn’t matter to these thugs with law degrees and the willingness to abuse government power,’ Clark said Saturday.
‘They were trying to bait me to go to court to get them to destroy their secret copies of the emails, so they could try to break even my lawyer-client privilege with President Trump. But my team and I didn’t fall for it,’ Clark also said. ‘Moreover, the whole thing was a blatant attempt to intimidate me. It didn’t work and I didn’t fold under the pressure.’
The FBI did not immediately respond Saturday to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Fox News’ Alex Miller contributed to this report.