by Steven Nelson
\nWashington Examiner<\/p>\n
Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee notified Republicans when they sent subpoenas to phone companies demanding records for multiple numbers. They didn\u2019t tell Republicans who the numbers belonged to, but it didn\u2019t take long to figure out.<\/p>\n
The subpoenas for the records of Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and Giuliani\u2019s former Ukraine \u201cfixer\u201d Lev Parnas were uncontroversial, but their use enraged Republicans once Democrats released an impeachment report Tuesday. It became apparent that the committee\u2019s top Republican, Rep. Devin Nunes of California, had spoken twice with Parnas, and journalist John Solomon had spoken with Giuliani and Parnas as he wrote opinion articles about Ukraine for the\u00a0Hill<\/i>.<\/p>\n
It took a while for some Republicans to understand what happened. Some seemed to think Nunes and Solomon had their call logs seized. \u201cI want to know all the people Adam Schiff is spying on. Are there other members of Congress that he is spying on? And what justification does he have?\u201d House Minority Whip Steve Scalise told the\u00a0Washington Examiner<\/i>\u00a0on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a textbook abuse of power,\u201d said a House Republican involved in the impeachment proceedings. \u201cSchiff clearly went through these phone records for the purely political purpose of reverse engineering them to find his political opponents and then gratuitously publish their names. Doing this to a journalist \u2014 John Solomon \u2014 is particularly abusive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Solomon received little public support Wednesday from fellow journalists. His reports for the\u00a0Hill<\/i>\u00a0regarding Ukraine were targeted previously by Democrats, who allege he spread misinformation about former Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch.<\/p>\n
\u201cSchiff published records of Solomon\u2019s calls to discredit him by implying he\u2019s talking to shady people. But Solomon is a reporter, that\u2019s what reporters do \u2014 they talk to all kinds of people. Schiff insinuates these conversations were shady, but, in fact, he has no idea what these conversations entailed,\u201d the Republican said. \u201cIf Schiff did this to any journalist other than Solomon, other reporters would be up in arms. But Solomon\u2019s reporting counters Schiff\u2019s impeachment narrative, and all the other reporters support impeachment, so they view Solomon as being fair game for these attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n
The call records show Nunes spoke for less than 10 minutes in total with Parnas in April, before key events related to Trump’s effort to push Ukraine to investigate Democrats.<\/p>\n
“The idea that nine minutes of conversation is some outrage or scandal is ridiculous,\u201d the Republican said. “They have no actual accusation against Nunes, it’s just insinuation. The implication seems to be that he was involved in some kind of circle that was trying to get Yovanovitch ousted, which is ridiculous. Just a few days ago, all these people were decrying Nunes\u2019s meeting with [former Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor] Shokin in Vienna, which never even happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
Solomon could not be reached for comment. Giuliani and his legal team did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n
AT&T declined to comment on its role supplying the call records. \u201cLike all companies, we are required by law to provide information to government and law enforcement agencies. In all cases, we ensure that requests for assistance are valid and that we act in compliance with the law,\u201d said company spokesman Jim Greer.<\/p>\n
Verizon also appears to have supplied records in response to a committee subpoena for information on U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland.<\/p>\n
Advocates for civil liberties offered little sympathy for targets of the record acquisition.<\/p>\n
Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, told the\u00a0Washington Examiner:<\/i>\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s pretty rich to see people who\u2019ve led the charge to expand government surveillance powers crying foul over the most basic, constitutionally sanctioned-evidence gathering in an investigation of alleged \u2014 and increasingly apparent \u2014 criminal wrongdoing. Be serious.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parnas\u2019s attorney Joseph Bondy said he was \u201cnot really\u201d concerned about the subpoena violating his client\u2019s civil liberties. Parnas is cooperating with authorities.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would appear to be a simple subpoena for phone records, with a low bar for production, and I haven\u2019t seen the warrant application,\u201d Bondy said. \u201cBesides, for us, the records are corroborative of Mr. Parnas\u2019s version of events.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Democratic House Intelligence Committee official did not directly address criticism of Schiff’s use of the records but underscored that neither Nunes nor Solomon had their records taken.<\/p>\n