At the beginning of the month, the House Intelligence Committee released a Democratic report on the impeachment inquiry, which included some records of calls from House Intel ranking member Devin Nunes (R-CA), presidential lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Jay Sekulow, journalist John Solomon, Fox News host Sean Hannity, a Giuliani connection Lev Parnas, and other White House associates. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) reportedly subpoenaed both AT&T and Verizon for the information.
Judicial Watch announced on Friday that they filed a lawsuit against Schiff and the House Intelligence Committee for the controversial subpoenas issued for the phone records.
According to a press release from Judicial Watch:
Judicial Watch filed the lawsuit under the public’s common-law right of public access to examine government records after it received no response to a December 6, 2019, records request (Judicial Watch v Adam Schiff and U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (No. 1:19-cv-03790)):
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- All subpoenas issued by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on or about September 30, 2019, to any telecommunications provider, including, but not limited to AT&T, Inc., for records of telephone calls of any individuals;
- All responses received to the above-referenced subpoenas.
“Adam Schiff abused his power to secretly subpoena and then publish the private phone records, in potential violation of the law, of innocent Americans. What else is Mr. Schiff hiding?” asked Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.
“Schiff and his Committee ran roughshod over the rule of law in pursuit of the abusive impeachment of President Trump. This lawsuit serves as a reminder that Congressman Schiff and Congress are not above the law,” he added. (Continued Below)
Schiff is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, currently serving as Chairman of the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Schiff is being sued in his capacity as Chairman of that committee, Judicial Watch reported.
The new lawsuit states: The records are of critical public importance as the subpoenas were issued without any lawful basis and violated the rights of numerous private citizens. Disclosure of the requested records would serve the public interest by providing information about the unlawful issuance of the subpoenas, as per the press release.
The requested records fall within the scope of the public’s right of access to governmental records as a matter of federal common law. (Continued Below)
“[Congress] think they’re above the law, and Judicial Watch’s motto and our motivation is ‘because no one is above the law’. … We have to operate in a society where no one is above the law. And in the case of the President, he’s not above the law, but he’s not beneath the protection of the law,” the president of Judicial Watch said in his weekly update.
“[This] is what this Schiff scheme is about– denying the president his due process rights and invading his privacy and the privacy of anyone who dare poses Adam Schiff. [Do] you think the phone records he has are limited to [just these people]? Don’t believe it. Who knows what other phone records he has. Does he have my phone records? Does he have your phone records? Who knows. And the House isn’t going to do anything about it,” he stressed.
“Judicial Watch doesn’t rely on Congress to do the right thing or to get to the full truth. We do the heavy lifting on that because Congress often fails to do that. And I’m proud of this new Schiff lawsuit. … Other people are too afraid to act, and because we have the strong support of you, the American people, we’re not afraid to act,” Fitton declared. (Continued Below)
Tom Fitton took to Twitter on Friday to announce the lawsuit:
Adam Schiff abused his power to secretly subpoena and then publish the private phone records, in potential violation of law, of innocent Americans. What else is Mr. Schiff hiding? @JudicialWatch @realDonaldTrump https://t.co/QKSBecQ977
— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) December 20, 2019
Schiff and his Committee ran roughshod over the rule of law in pursuit of the abusive impeachment of President @RealDonaldTrump. This @JudicialWatch lawsuit serves as a reminder that Congressman Schiff and Congress are not above the law. https://t.co/QKSBecQ977
— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) December 20, 2019
(Continued Below)
We leave you Tom Fitton’s weekly update. The Judicial Watch president discusses the lawsuit against Adam Schiff at 20:50 into the video:
(Related: Tom Fitton: ‘We Need To Be Investigating Congress About Its Role In The Anti-Trump Coup’)
