About those phone records (6)

Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal included a brief editorial on the phone records obtained and published by Adam Schiff for his impeachment report. Having read the new book by Journal editorial board member Kim Strassel — Resistance (At All Costs) — I infer that the editorial is by the great Ms. Strassel.

Picking up on one of the Sunday gabfests we overlooked, the editorial reports that Margaret Brennan of CBS asked Schiff about his release of phone logs of his political opponents. Schiff was unruffled: “The blowback has only come from the far right,” Schiff said. “But look, every investigator seeks phone records to corroborate, sometimes to contradict, a witness’s testimony.” Translation: in the world according to Schiff, conservatives are on “the far right.”

Schiff, I observe, is a cretin. The editorial observes: “Mr. Schiff released the phone logs of journalist John Solomon and Rep. Devin Nunes—information irrelevant to his impeachment case against President Trump. The narrative of his report suggests he did it gratuitously to imply that Mr. Nunes is part of the Ukraine conspiracy, though the Republican has a right to call anyone he wants.”

The editorial adds: “Mr. Schiff is right that he’s getting no criticism from the rest of the press corps. The same media that howled when the Bush Administration gathered metadata to hunt for terrorists is silent when Democrats gather and release it against a conservative journalist and Republicans. Keep this double standard in mind when you next hear media lectures about violating democratic and institutional ‘norms.’”

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