Posted on 03/13/2020 6:37:26 AM PDT by Red Badger
During the House impeachment proceedings, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) released a report which included the phone records that included calls made or received by Rep. Devin Nunes(R-CA), journalist John Solomon, Rudy Giuliani, and others. The records in the report didn’t contain the content of the conversations but included who called who and how long the call lasted.
The belief was that the records were obtained through subpoenas to the phone companies of records related to Giuliani and Lev Parnas, with the obvious purpose meant to try to impugn the people whose records were included without reason or cause.
What made it especially troubling was Schiff wouldn’t explain who was subpoenaed or how, and if it was a Congressional subpoena straight to the companies, it was a troubling abuse of power.
Now, as Kim Strassel at the Wall Street Journal is reporting, the FCC Commissioner, Brendan Carr, is calling Schiff out over what he believes are abuses of his subpoena power and Carr wants answers. Strassel called it an “incredible abuse” with Schiff publishing call records of his political rivals including Nunes, even the President’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani. Schiff even smeared Nunes during a press conference with the records, trying to suggest that Nunes was somehow “complicit.”
While Carr acknowledged that there might be instances in which Schiff could subpoena call records, Carr said the problem was that Schiff did this in secret, without giving the people whose records were grabbed the opportunity to respond or fight the request.
If that’s allowed, that’s a tremendous abuse of power if members of Congress can just demand phone records from the phone company about any American without any court and without any check.
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Brendan Carr ✔ @BrendanCarrFCC
Chairman Schiff has been collecting Americans’ private call records through a secret & partisan process.
He even published some of them in the Impeachment Report.
These sensitive records are protected by federal law.
His conduct raises serious concerns & I’ve asked for answers https://twitter.com/kimstrassel/status/1238246263193206785 … Kimberley Strassel ✔ @KimStrassel
My latest: FCC Commissioner @BrendanCarrFCC takes on Schiff's surveillance state, slapping him for secret subpoenas for call records that invade privacy and deny targets judicial review. https://www.wsj.com/articles/adam-schiffs-surveillance-state-11584050541 … via @WSJ 11.3K 6:32 PM - Mar 12, 2020 Twitter Ads info and privacy
6,744 people are talking about this
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Carr sent Schiff’s House Intel Committee a formal letter not only calling out their prior actions, but indicating that Schiff/the Committee may still be getting people’s records.
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Brendan Carr ✔ @BrendanCarrFCC Replying to @BrendanCarrFCC
2. By proceeding in secret, Schiff deprived Americans - from private citizens to his political opponents to a journalist - of their legal right to go to court and seek to maintain the confidentiality of their sensitive call records.
Here is my letter.:
View image AT LINK
2,457 6:49 PM - Mar 12, 2020 Twitter Ads info and privacy
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Carr points out in his letter that Schiff isn’t allowed to get the records from the phone company without consent from the citizen or in accordance with the law — that there has to be judicial review. Nor did they establish any legitimate legislative purpose in subpoenaing the records.
Moreover, as Carr notes, the recent decision involving the subpoena to former White House Counsel Don McGahn has now established that the subpoena power of the Congress as to such things might be questionable, without a court check on possible abuse of power.
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Kimberley Strassel ✔ @KimStrassel · 13h Replying to @KimStrassel
FCC's Carr: Schiff "created out of whole cloth a secret and effectively unreviewable and unchecked mechanism for obtaining call records on any and all Americans." This "secret and partisan process" "deprives Americans of their legal rights."
Kimberley Strassel ✔ @KimStrassel
FCC's Carr calls on Congress to address Schiff's snooping as part of its surveillance debate, and also holds out possibility of FCC action. 2,826 6:35 PM - Mar 12, 2020 Twitter Ads info and privacy
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Yes, please. It’s about time. Carr mentions substantial fines in his letter but there may be further action that could be taken.
“May take action”
Nothing.will.happen.
Where’s the DOJ? This is seriously wrong.
Oh that’s right. The DOJ only goes after NON-DC Insiders. DC Insiders have absolute immunity from any prosecution for wrongdoing.
Nothing to see hear. Move along.
Secret courts
Secret subpoenas
Some go to jail for lying, some walk free for lying
There is no Rule of Law.
These sensitive records are protected by federal law.
LOL. "Protected by a federal law" is a joke. There are so many exceptions and loopholes that the government and Congress can do whatever they want against the people. There is no consequence.
Really!!!?? Do you really think that anythings will happen over this?
Grow up!!
What have we learned since 1996 class? No powerful democrat will go to prison or be removed from office.
May? OK it’s March. May is gonna come this year, right. It comes every year. Hope springs eternal.
No one in DC ever “takes action” on anyone.
DC is a justice and accountability free zone.
Babylon Bee? “MAY take action”?
There is no consequence.
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Correct. There’s lots of talk, bloviating and rhetoric, but no consequences or accountability.
We clearly have a government that is of, by and for the corrupt ruling elites.
LOL, LOL, LOL,
OMG, that is hilarious...
EXACTLY. No justice, NO United States of America.
No question.......this media hound dog has been unusually low-key.
That.....coupled with Penlosi's recent blurt that there may still be impeachment articles on the horizon......means Schiff is playing dirty.
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Ever notice....when Schiff walks by a TV camera he always turns his face to the camera .....just to make sure he gets filmed.
??? Now? What timing...…
Operative word, “MAY” take action....
MAY?????
in May they’ll take action, maybe.
If the committee fails to reply to the FCC then the FCC should require all telecommunication companies that provided information to the committee to inform the FCC and the individuals who had their information provided to the Committee.
Those individuals should then sue the phone companies that did not attempt to quash the subpoenas or even attempt to afford their customers the notice to fight the subpoenas.
This strategy would demonstrate to companies that they do not have the same immunities that Congress has and they can be held accountable if they fail to protect their customers even from Congressional abuses of power.
Blah, blah, blah. It’s all we’ve been getting for years! Someone let Barr and Q know about this abuse.
They’re more likely to give him a medal. If they’re like any other government agency, they’re all democrats and deepstaters.
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