>>
SO WHATâS A âTOLL RECORDâ AND HOW IS IT OBTAINED?
Well, it isnât phone-tapping. Such records donât include information about the content of calls, especially in real-time.
Instead, toll records include data about calls, allowing for potential analysis of the âsource or destination of a call; the times of calls; and the dates, frequency, sequence, patterns, and duration of calls to/from one or many telephonesâ (as a fairly old Justice Department handbook explains). Itâs not clear what information about calls to or from the senatorsâ phones were obtained by the FBI, given the qualifier âlimitedâ in the published documentâs description.
Importantly, the authorization for obtaining the records followed the approval of a subpoena by a grand jury, according to CBS News. In other words, this wasnât the FBI simply digging into phone records. It was the government presenting a case to grand jurors that the records would be useful in their investigation and the jurors agreeing.<<
Bump
This is the most legal thing there ever was.