Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I would just ask--because we have expressed a deep concern about this when we found out about it. It wasn't something that was discussed in the hearings, and yet, it shows up in the report. And it seemed to be designed in a way to seek political retribution on people that the chairman might have had disagreements with, which is an abuse of power, if that is what happened. So the questions are, number one: With the press, that is a serious concern, that the chairman of a committee is using Federal subpoena powers to spy on or seek phone records of members of the press who have a job to do. We might not always agree or like some of the articles they write, but they play an important role in our democracy, and many times they talk to people in candid discussions where they have anonymous sources. {time} 1300 Is the chairman trying to go after anonymous sources of members of the press? How many other Members of Congress is the chairman spying on? This is unprecedented. I have never seen a chairman of a committee abuse their subpoena power to go after other Members of Congress that they have political disagreements with or members of the press that they have political disagreements with. That is over the line. It is an abuse of power if it is going on.…”