EDITORS:

The following story has moved as this week's Monday Spotlight, a feature showcasing the best off-the-news enterprise in the AP report:

FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has charged multiple defendants in recent years with routine criminal violations derived from foreign intelligence-gathering. The cases rely on the same surveillance tools the FBI has admitted misusing in investigating the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia. The cases are attracting the attention of defense lawyers and civil liberties advocates who object that tools meant for foreign intelligence collection are being used for prosecutions with no obvious connection to national security. But the Justice Department says the law allows evidence collected through foreign intelligence surveillance warrants to be repurposed for use in criminal prosecutions. By Eric Tucker. SENT: 1,100 words, photos.

The AP