Rudy Giuliani, President Trump's personal lawyer, said AT&T intercepted his telephone calls as part of the impeachment investigation and called it "completely illegal and horrific" that the Democrats were trying to keep him from defending his client.
That came in an interview with conservative cable outlet Newsmax.
Asked by Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy whether he was shocked that AT&T had turned over the records without notifying him, Giuliani said he would think they [it was unclear whether he was referring to AT&T or Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee] would have at least tried to determine if they were violating attorney-client privilege."
The phone records of Giuliani calls with the President were used in the Intelligence Committee's impeachment report and were shared "without the President’s knowledge or permission."
The subpoenaing of phone records was also invoked repeatedly in the House Judiciary hearing Monday (Dec. 9), where numerous Republicans talked about the Democrats publishing phone conversations of private citizens, including journalists and Giuliani.
Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) said he had a big problem with members of Congress being able to subpoenae the records of private citizens willy nilly without any kind of cause," then publishing it. He called that "a clear abuse of power on the part of the people prosecuting the impeachment."
"Like all companies, we are required by law to provide information to government and law enforcement agencies," said AT&T in a statement. "In all cases, we ensure that requests for assistance are valid and that we act in compliance with the law."
