(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it and Michael Caputo, a longtime ally and policy advisor to President Donald J. Trump, filed a motion asking the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to unseal the search warrant materials related to a November 18, 2024, warrant that authorized the federal government to seize the entire contents of Caputo’s Google account (In the Matter of the Search of Information Associated with Six Accounts Stored at Premises Controlled by One Provider Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 2703 for Investigation of Violations of 18 U.S.C. § 951 (No. 24-sc-2315)).
Issued shortly after President Donald J. Trump won the November 2024 election, the Biden Justice Department warrant authorized the seizure of the private content of Caputo’s Google account, along with all related data, for the period from January 1, 2019, to April 1, 2021. The seizure was sweeping in scope. It reached every Google platform Caputo used—email, messaging, voice, and chat—as well as all files stored in Google Drive and photos; all search, browsing, and location history; calendar entries, contacts, and documents; advertising and analytics data; and all associated metadata, including IP addresses, device identifiers, and timestamps.
On the same day, the court ordered Google not to disclose the warrant’s existence to Caputo for one year, and sealed the warrant, application, affidavit, and all related materials. The seal remains in place.
Caputo was not notified that the government had seized his account until December 30, 2025—more than a year after the warrant was issued. Although the warrant was first obtained in November 2024, the seizure was kept hidden from Caputo and the investigation remained active through nearly the entire first year of President Trump’s new administration. Caputo has never been charged with any crime. (In 2025, Caputo worked for Ed Martin, then-acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.)
In its motion, Judicial Watch and Caputo state:
Judicial Watch is investigating the potential politicization of numerous federal law enforcement agencies and whether they abused their powers to attack an ally of a political opponent.
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In the days after the November 2024 election, the United States seized [Caputo’s] entire online private life, as reflected in his Google account. It did so without his knowledge. … As the subject of the search warrant, whose most private communications, files, digital and banking records were seized without his knowledge, Caputo’s interest in these records is obvious.
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Because no compelling governmental interest justifies continued sealing, and because both Caputo, whose entire online private life was seized, and Judicial Watch, which seeks to inform the public about the weaponization of the federal government against political opponents and their allies, have powerful interests in disclosure, the Court should unseal these materials.… The historical presumption of access to warrant materials vastly outweighs any interest the government may have in maintaining the seal.
Judicial Watch also has pending lawsuits for records about spying by the Biden administration on Caputo and the Trump 2024 presidential campaign. In June 2025, Judicial Watch sued the U.S. Department of Justice and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence after the agencies failed to respond adequately to requests for records regarding the investigation of former Trump campaign advisor and communications strategist Michael Caputo (Judicial Watch Inc. v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:25-cv-02631)), (Judicial Watch Inc. v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:25-cv-01903)), (Judicial Watch Inc. v. Office of the Director of National Intelligence (No. 1:25-cv-02469)).
“In the days after President Trump won reelection, the government secretly seized my entire online life—my emails, my photos, my private files, my location, all of it—and didn’t even let Google tell me it had happened,” said Michael Caputo. “I was never charged with anything because I did nothing wrong. I have every right to see the affidavit used to justify this outrageous invasion of my privacy, and so does the public. I’m grateful to Judicial Watch for fighting to drag this into the light.”
“The Biden administration’s secret seizure of Trump friend Michael Caputo’s entire digital life after the 2024 election is a stunning abuse of power and yet another example of the weaponization of federal law enforcement against President Trump and his allies,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “The Biden administration raided a private citizen’s online life, forced Google to hide it from him for a year, charged him with nothing, and is still concealing the basis for it behind a court seal. Astonishingly, this secret surveillance was kept hidden from him through nearly the entire first year of President Trump’s new administration. The American people have a right to know who authorized this assault and why.”
Caputo is a political consultant and former assistant secretary for public affairs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The unsealing of these materials is one piece of Judicial Watch’s broader investigation into whether federal law enforcement agencies abused their powers to target the allies of a political opponent. If the court unseals the materials, Judicial Watch will obtain, analyze, and make them available to the public.
Judicial Watch has taken a leading role in exposing the politicization and weaponization of federal law enforcement. The organization previously moved to unseal the search warrant materials used in the FBI’s August 2022 raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home and to publish the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court transcripts relating to the surveillance of former Trump campaign advisor Carter Page.
Judicial Watch is currently pursuing multiple Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits for records about the investigations of other Trump allies.
In April 2026, Judicial Watch sued the Justice Department for records on the Biden FBI’s search warrants used in the April 2021 raid on former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s residence and office (Judicial Watch Inc. v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:26-cv-01158)). Giuliani served as a personal attorney and informal advisor to Trump.
In November 2025, Judicial Watch sued the Justice Department for records concerning investigations of Mike Lindell (Judicial Watch Inc. v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 25-cv-03850)).
In March 2025, Judicial Watch sued the Justice Department and U.S. Department of Homeland Security for records regarding Christina Bobb, a former lawyer for Trump (Judicial Watch Inc. v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:25-cv-00588)).
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