Rand Paul Calls for Ban on Congress Collecting Phone Data of Journalists, Members
Paul's remarks come after House Democrats published call records of Rep. Devin Nunes
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Sen. Rand Paul vowed to take a look into committee rule changes to restrict Congress from obtaining phone data from lawmakers and members of the press.
Paul's remarks come after House Democrats published call records, reportedly linked to Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) and investigative journalist John Solomon.
Last week, Nunes accused House Intelligence Committee chair Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) of violating his civil liberties by snooping in his phone records and releasing them in his impeachment report.
Schiff also publicized the call records of personal phone data from President Donald Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani.
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But the House Intelligence Committee chair has not explained why or how he obtained the records.
"Congress has no rules...it's not illegal for Adam Schiff to do this," Paul told reporters, Politico reported.
"It's highly immoral or unfair for him to do it. No one else has ever done it to another member or a journalist. I think we need to change the rules."
The Kentucky Republican said he is looking at putting restrictions on Congress by revising committee rules.
"Nobody should get your phone records. This is a big deal; this is a huge deal," he said.
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Sen. Paul noted the lack of outrage from the press over Schiff obtaining Solomon's phone records.
"There haven't been enough calls from some of you people about protecting your own," he told reporters.
According to The Epoch Times, Solomon has faced attacks and has been accused of peddling Russian propaganda for his extensive investigative work exposing "an appearance of a conflict of interest on the part of former Vice President Joe Biden."
Nunes noted that his own call records do not match up with what Schiff's committee published in its report.
"We're definitely taking legal action," Nunes said.
"We need to get to court to try to stop that from happening again."
