Washington (CNN) Republican Rep. Jim Jordan criticized the seizure of a New York Times reporter's records as part of a leak investigation.

"That is not how the First Amendment operates," he said on CNN's "New Day" Thursday.

The New York Times reported earlier this month that the reporter, Ali Watkins, was informed in February that the Justice Department "had years of customer records and subscriber information" associated with two of her email accounts and a phone number. However, the contents of her communications were not seized.

"Ali had all her material just grabbed," Jordan told CNN's John Berman. "It is not supposed to work that way."

The Justice Department announced earlier this month that a former US Senate employee, James Wolfe, has been charged with making false statements to federal agents in the course of an investigation related to the unauthorized disclosure of non-public information. He has pleaded not guilty.

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