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Source: Fox News
Summary
Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley and Sen. Marsha Blackburn held a hearing to investigate the disclosure of phone records of sitting members of Congress. The records were obtained as part of the FBI probe Arctic Frost, which led to charges against President Donald Trump over the 2020 election. The phone companies involved are Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile, which received subpoenas related to 20 current or former Republican Congress members. The hearing will explore how the phone companies handled the subpoenas and whether they notified the senators involved.
Our Reading
As expected, the matter has reached another stage.
Grassley and Blackburn are leading the charge, questioning phone company executives about the handling of the subpoenas.
Blackburn is calling the disclosure an “invasion of privacy and violation of our constitutional rights”, citing the speech or debate clause.
Grassley is pointing to a federal statute that requires phone carriers to notify the Senate office about subpoenas, unless the member is the target of an investigation.
The phone companies’ silence on the matter is telling, as they were under a contract to notify the Senate Sergeant at Arms about subpoenas related to senators.
The whole spectacle feels like a performance, with Grassley and Blackburn playing the roles of concerned lawmakers, and the phone companies providing the backdrop for the drama.
