Former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who in many ways served as an acting attorney general under Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III because Sessions had to recuse himself from a number of investigations, has reportedly told associated that he had no knowledge of the 2017 subpoenas issues to Apple to obtain the personal communications records of two Democrats on the House Intel Committee, their aides and their families, including one minor, CNN reports.

The records–for then-Intel minority chair (and current committee chair) Adam Schiff and Congressman Eric Swalwell–were part of a broad subpoena the Justice Department reported served on Apple for a information on a number of phone numbers and email accounts. Apple has said it did not know the numbers were for politicians. The feds then applied a strict gag order preventing Apple from disclosing the subpoena to anyone.

Rosenstein's denial of knowledge about the subpoena follows both Sessions and Trump's fourth Attorney General, Bill Barr, claiming they didn't know anything about the subpoenas. Additional subpoenas were issued while Barr was AG for the communications records of reporters working for CNN, the Washington Post and the New York Times in 2017 and 2018.

The gag order on Apple was extended by the Justice Department three times, but not when it was up for renewal earlier this year. At that point, in May, Apple notified Schiff, Swalwell and the others that they're records had been turned over to the federal government.

The Justice Department has not explained why it sought the records, who was being investigated or why the Democratic Intel committee members were targeted. The timeframe of the records sought for both the Democrats and the journalists correspond to a time when the committee was investigating Russian involvement in the 2016 election.