With all eyes on the latest on Democrats’ impeachment circus show, it seems that attention turned away from House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff “snooping” on members of the press.
The California Democrat came under fire after the release of the House Intelligence Committee’s impeachment inquiry report which included phone records for Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and others, including the committee’s ranking member, Rep. Devin Nunes and members of the press like John Solomon.
Schiff would not disclose how Democrats obtained the call logs but Republicans were not about to let it slide.
“I 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?” House Minority Whip Steve Scalise told the Washington Examiner on Wednesday.
“This is a textbook abuse of power,” a House Republican involved in the impeachment proceedings told the publication. “Schiff 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 — John Solomon — is particularly abusive.”
But many in the liberal media did not step up to condemn Schiff’s actions, not to anyone’s surprise.
The Wall Street Journal’s Kimberley Strassel called out her “fellow members of the media,” saying their silence was “deafening.”
1) Still waiting for my fellow members of the media to express their deep outrage and alarm that Intelligence Chair Schiff snooped thru and published phone records of member of the free press. The silence is deafening.
— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) December 4, 2019
Democrats would “have more credibility if they didn’t abuse their surveillance powers for drive-by smears of Republicans and a free press,” Strassel wrote in an op-ed for the Journal published Wednesday.
Democrats lecture about dirt-digging, even as they abuse their surveillance powers to demand phone records to smear political rivals.
https://t.co/FFIGh9Pbu3 via @WSJ— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) December 5, 2019
One person with a clear opinion on the issue is Emmy award-winning investigative journalist, Sharyl Attkisson, who responded to Strassel’s tweet.
I’m outraged. Had Trump or Rs done that to D reporters at NYT, CNN, MSNBC etc, it would draw international criticism and outrage every day until that person resigned. https://t.co/PQjgdz1Vsk
— Sharyl Attkisson?️♂️ (@SharylAttkisson) December 5, 2019
Attkisson had also responded to a tweet by Solomon.
Not long ago, a member of Congress or other federal officials subpoena-ing phone records of journalists, surveilling them, would have turned heads.
No longer.
@WhatIfYoureNext https://t.co/ewNVOg6xAu— Sharyl Attkisson?️♂️ (@SharylAttkisson) December 5, 2019
The “Full Measure” host sued former Attorney General Eric H. Holder, the FBI and others in 2014 alleging she was being spied on and her computers were hacked. The lawsuit was eventually dismissed by a federal court but Attkisson’s comments on Schiff’s actions drew plenty of response on social media as Twitter users agree with her and Strassel.
The silence is deafening. This is just one instance we heard of. Rosen and Attkisson others. It’s not a stretch to see intelligence weaponized against a free press. We’re living it. It’s disgusting and should give all of them pause.
— racer_x (@racingpartsale) December 5, 2019
Well, Obama did it and never saw any push back, except from you, so I am really not surprised by anything anymore. The a Democrat’s are now a law unto themselves and w/o any media accountability, I don’t see that changing.
— dm87 (@tiqigal) December 5, 2019
Yes. Yes, they did. But even forensics that prove it don’t matter when @TheJusticeDept is determined not to hold the guilty accountable, and fights to protect them instead. But stay tuned.
It’s not over. https://t.co/sXzQoFIOm7— Sharyl Attkisson?️♂️ (@SharylAttkisson) December 5, 2019
Funny that Democrats, who always state how supportive they are of the Fourth Estate, are the ones who violate the fundamentals of freedom of the press.
Just look at Obama Administration and James Rosen email snooping and now @RepAdamSchiff‘s violations against John Solomon.
— #GodBlessTexas (@ConservTXmom) December 4, 2019
Shameful, sniveling and disgraceful, actually.
— Joe Bravo (@JoeBravoYo) December 5, 2019
You’ve got no “fellow journalists”… they’re nearly all political activists with paid media gigs.
— Keith Hanson (@kch50428) December 4, 2019
I remember the near-riot when Acost’s WH press pass was pulled, but MSM OK with a Congressional Committee to obtain/review Investigative Reporter John Solomon’s personal phone records, when he isn’t under investigation or a witness?? ?@TheJusticeDept
— Kathleen Kelly (@Kat022916) December 4, 2019
Of course it’s wrong for Shifty to do this, and it’s appalling that @ATT complied with this partisan request. I’ll remember that when considering next phone, internet, and other service.
— Bonny Wright? (@miamivandynyu) December 4, 2019
In the “age of Trump” anything goes. This seems to be their rules of engagement.
— Peter S. Lee (@pleemirage) December 5, 2019
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.
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