Democrats Use Unlawful Phone Records to Argue Need for More Documents

House impeachment manager Rep. Val Demings (D-FL) used controversial phone records that were likely obtained unlawfully by the House Intelligence Committee to argue the Senate should subpoena State Department documents.

Demings was arguing on the Senate floor during the first day of the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, supporting an amendment introduced by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to a procedural resolution.

She referred to phone records that were first revealed to the public in the Intelligence Committee’s impeachment report, and which purport to show calls involving Ranking Member Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), presidential lawyer Rudy Giuliani, journalist John Solomon, indicted Giuliani associate Lev Parnas, the White House, and others.

It is not clear what authority Schiff had to obtain the records from AT&T. The Wall Street Journal‘s Kim Strassel wrote last month that Schiff had likely violated federal law, and Nunes told radio host Mark Levin that his rights had been violated and he was preserving all legal options to use in possible future court actions against Schiff.

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