Mueller investigated 'a member of the news media' suspected of participating in the 2016 plot to hack and share Dems' emails, the DOJ said

• The DOJ released a new amendment regarding Mueller's Russia investigation.
• It said he investigated "a member of the news media" suspected in a plot to hack and share Dems' emails.
• The DOJ said it issued a subpoena in 2018 authorizing the seizure of phone records from that person.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller had investigated an unidentified "member of the news media" who was suspected of hacking senior Democrats' emails accounts and leaking their contents during the 2016 election, The New York Times reported, citing a new Justice Department release.

The DOJ announced the news in an amendment published on Wednesday to a report about the department's use of subpoenas and other legal tools used in 2018 against members of the media.

Between 2017 and 2019, Mueller led an investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 general election. It was initiated partly because email accounts belonging to senior Democratic figures, including John Podesta, were hacked and subsequently leaked.

Mueller ultimately charged 12 Russian security officers for the email hack, and accused WikiLeaks of disseminating them with the purpose of interfering in the 2016 election. The report also did not find sufficient evidence to charge anyone from former President Donald Trump's campaign with illegally conspiring or coordinating with Russia.

The Wednesday DOJ amendment said the department had issued a subpoena against an unidentified person in the news media "in connection with an investigation into an alleged conspiracy involving persons or entities associated with a foreign government hacking the computers of a United States political party's central organization."

The amendment did not specify on what grounds the person was suspected of the plot to hack Democrats' emails, and no member of the media was charged with conspiring in the plot. The document also did not specify where the person worked or what they worked as.

The subpoena, issued by the then-deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, had authorized the seizure of phone records from a cellphone provider as well as a search warrant for the person's internet cloud and email accounts, the amendment said.

"All of this information was necessary to further the investigation of whether the member of the news media was involved in the conspiracy to unlawfully obtain and utilize the information from the hacked political party or other victims," the release said.

Rosenstein later approved a voluntary interview with the person and gave permission for them to be summoned by subpoena to testify before a grand jury, although the report did not specify whether that took place.