Sen. Rand Paul calls for ban on Congress obtaining phone records of journalists, members

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) told reporters Monday he's taking a look at committee rule changes to restrict Congress from obtaining the phone data of lawmakers and members of the press, after House Democrats published call records purportedly linked to Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) and investigative journalist John Solomon.

What are the details?

Sen. Paul is reacting to the House Intelligence Committee led by Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) publicizing the call and text records of Nunes and Solomon along with the personal phone data from President Donald Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, as part of Democrats' impeachment probe against the president.

Schiff 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, according to Politico. "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's looking at placing restrictions on Congress through the revision of committee rules, adding, "Nobody should get your phone records. This is a big deal, this is a huge deal."

Sen. Paul also took issue with the lack of outrage from the press over Solomon's phone records being obtained by Schiff, telling the reporters, "There hasn't been enough calls from some of you people about protecting your own."

Solomon's work is repeatedly cited in impeachment probe documentation, and he has faced attacks and 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," The Epoch Times reported.

Anything else?

According to Nunes, his own call records do not match up with what Schiff's committee published in its report. The California Republican told Fox News he plans to take legal action over the violation of his civil liberties.

"We're definitely taking legal action," Nunes said. "We need to get to court to try to stop that from happening again."