[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1915 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1915

 To require the recording and reporting of communications between the 
    Department of Justice and the White House relating to civil and 
            criminal investigations, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 20, 2019

Mr. Whitehouse (for himself, Mr. Blumenthal, and Ms. Harris) introduced 
the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 
                            on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require the recording and reporting of communications between the 
    Department of Justice and the White House relating to civil and 
            criminal investigations, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Security from Political Interference 
in Justice Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act--
            (1) the term ``communications log'' means the log required 
        to be maintained under section 3(a);
            (2) the term ``covered communication''--
                    (A) means any communication relating to an ongoing 
                investigation conducted by the Department of Justice in 
                any civil or criminal matter (regardless of whether a 
                civil action or criminal indictment or information has 
                been filed); and
                    (B) does not include a communication that--
                            (i) relates solely to policy, appointments, 
                        legislation, rulemaking, budgets, public 
                        relations, programmatic matters, 
                        intergovernmental relations, administrative or 
                        personnel matters, appellate litigation, or 
                        requests for legal advice; and
                            (ii) does not relate to an ongoing 
                        investigation described in subparagraph (A); 
                        and
            (3) the term ``investigative office'' means--
                    (A) the Office of the Inspector General of the 
                Department of Justice; and
                    (B) the Office of Professional Responsibility of 
                the Department of Justice.

SEC. 3. COMMUNICATIONS LOGS.

    (a) In General.--The Counsel to the President and the Attorney 
General shall each maintain a log of any covered communication 
between--
            (1) an officer or employee of the Department of Justice; 
        and
            (2) an officer or employee of the Executive Office of the 
        President.
    (b) Contents.--A communications log shall include, with respect to 
a covered communication--
            (1) the name and title of each officer or employee of the 
        Department of Justice or the Executive Office of the President 
        who participated in the covered communication;
            (2) the topic of the covered communication; and
            (3) a statement describing the purpose and necessity of the 
        covered communication.
    (c) Oversight.--
            (1) Periodic disclosure of logs.--
                    (A) In general.--Subject to subparagraph (B), not 
                later than January 30 and July 30 of each year, the 
                Attorney General shall submit to Congress and each 
                investigative office a report containing the 
                communications log for the 6-month period preceding 
                that January or July.
                    (B) Records of certain communications.--
                            (i) In general.--The Attorney General shall 
                        exclude from the report submitted to Congress 
                        under subparagraph (A) any record of a covered 
                        communication in which any of the following 
                        officials participated:
                                    (I) The President.
                                    (II) The Vice President.
                                    (III) The Counsel to the President.
                                    (IV) The Counselor to the 
                                President.
                                    (V) The Attorney General.
                                    (VI) The Deputy Attorney General.
                                    (VII) The Associate Attorney 
                                General.
                            (ii) Rule of construction.--The exclusion 
                        of certain records under clause (i) from the 
                        report to Congress under subparagraph (A) shall 
                        not be construed to--
                                    (I) exclude those records from the 
                                report to the investigative offices 
                                under subparagraph (A) or the review 
                                and notice requirements under paragraph 
                                (2); or
                                    (II) protect those records from 
                                congressional subpoena.
            (2) Notice of inappropriate or improper communications.--
        The head of an investigative office shall--
                    (A) review each communications log received under 
                paragraph (1)(A); and
                    (B) notify Congress if the office head determines 
                that a covered communication described in the 
                communications log--
                            (i) is inappropriate from a law enforcement 
                        perspective; or
                            (ii) raises concerns about improper 
                        political interference.
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