In a report released Wednesday by the New York Times, it was revealed that former FBI Director James Comey and the FBI used a secret program to gather information and phone records on the Trump campaign that does not require a judge’s oversight.

The Daily Wire reported:

The report also revealed that a government informant met several times with Trump campaign officials, which validates a March 8, 2018 report from The Washington Post. The New York Times reports…

National security letters (NSL) are secret orders that the FBI uses on a regular basis to obtain sensitive electronic data and phone records.

Companies that receive NSLs might not be legally required to hand over the information demanded by the FBI. The Intercept continues:

“The FBI’s internal guidelines suggest that the bureau uses the letters to demand sensitive information on email transactions — even though the Justice Department has specifically advised the FBI that it does not have the authority to use the letters this way. The documents also indicate that the FBI can use national security letters to surveil a “community of interest” by obtaining information from a business about a customer and every person that customer has contacted. This is a controversial practice that the bureau once halted amid scrutiny. But the documents reveal that a secretive unit that mines phone records can still initiate such requests.”

The report goes on to further state that the FBI and DOJ are aware of the fact that companies do not need to comply, but the pressure and their ignorance may induce it anyway.