About those phone records (2)

I took a close look at the House Intelligence Committee impeachment inquiry report to try to figure out whose telephone records Adam Schiff had subpoenaed or otherwise obtained. I inferred that the committee had obtained the records of Rudy Giuliani and Lev Parnas.

Following up on the report, the Wall Street Journal (editorial here) and Byron York (column here) indicate that Schiff subpoenaed a total of five phone numbers from AT&T and Verizon. All the published information was derived from the records of these five numbers, but it is not clear whose records were subpoenaed.

The Journal editorial notes: “Our sources says [sic] Mr. Schiff issued a subpoena in September to AT&T, demanding call logs for five numbers—including Mr. Giuliani’s. Subsequent subpoenas to AT&T and Verizon demanded more details. Republicans were told of the subpoenas, yet under rules of committee secrecy couldn’t raise public objections.”

Byron’s column includes statements from Ranking Member Devin Nunes and Rudy Giuliani. Nunes issued this statement:

The Democrats’ impeachment charade is flailing, and desperate people do desperate things. So Schiff suddenly published phone records of myself, current and former Republican staff members, and a journalist whose reporting he doesn’t like. It’s a gross abuse of power for a congressman to go after his political opponents, staffers, and reporters in this way, but it’s characteristic of the way Schiff has run this entire show. He’s going to need a long rehabilitation period when this is over.

I hesitate to say more until the facts are known, but I can say with certainty that Schiff should have disclosed whose records he obtained in the text of his report and that he should be called to account for the Star Chamber nature of his proceedings.

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