Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) defended the federal government’s reported seizure of Verizon customers’ cell phone records, saying on Thursday that the seizure had been “proven meritorious” in the fight against terror.
Sen. Chambliss, who serves as the Ranking Member on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that such seizures had gone on for years, and that Congress had been kept fully informed about them along the way.
He assured the public: that “we have gathered significant information on bad guys and only on bad guys over the years.” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), who chairs the committee, agreed, saying: “As far as I know, this is the exact three-month renewal of what has been the case for the past seven years,” according to CNN.
Others from both parties disagreed, however, with Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) calling the seizure of phone records “an astounding assault on the Constitution” and former Vice President Al Gore calling it “outrageous.”
Update: Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) has joined Chambliss in approving the phone record seizures.
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