Print this article The Justice Department notified the journalists earlier this month but did not state the reason for the seizure. (Getty Images) Under former President Donald Trump, the Justice Department went after sources in unauthorized leak cases by obtaining phone records of journalists, a practice the Biden administration, which has sought to rebuke so much of the last White House's agenda, is now defending. One case revealed last week "was worse than Nixon because Nixon never actually seized any records," former White House Counsel John Dean told the Washington Examiner, adding that this was because former President Richard Nixon "could develop no real probable cause."