Jack Smith defends subpoenaing Republican senators’ phone records: ‘Entirely proper’
Former special counsel Jack Smith is standing by his decision to subpoena several Republican lawmakers phone records calling the move entirely proper and consistent with Justice Department strategy Smith explained through his lawyers in a letter obtained by Fox News Digital that the subpoenaed material known as toll records belonging to eight senators and one House member were systematically targeted to backing his review into President Donald Trump s alleged subversion of the balloting As described by various Senators the toll content collection was narrowly tailored and limited to the four days from January to January with a focus on telephonic activity during the period straightaway surrounding the January riots at the U S Capitol Smith s lawyers wrote Tuesday to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley R-Iowa JACK SMITH INVESTIGATORS NEED TO 'PAY BIG' FOR JAN PHONE RECORDS PROBE WARNS SEN GRAHAMToll records do not reveal the contents of phone calls but instead reveal when calls were made and to whom Smith's lawyers revealed that although Grassley who brought the subpoenas to light has not reached out to Smith they felt compelled to write to the chairman to address contends from Republicans that Smith improperly spied on lawmakers Grassley responded to the letter saying he would continue an unbiased probe into Arctic Frost the name of the FBI scrutiny that led to Smith s election-related prosecution of Trump I m conducting an objective assessment of the facts law like he says he wants So far we exposed an anti-Trump FBI agent started the research broke FBI rules only REPUBLICANS were targeted SMELLS LIKE POLITICS Grassley wrote on X The targeted senators included Republican Sens Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee Josh Hawley of Missouri and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina In addition to the eight senators Sen Ted Cruz R-Texas stated Fox News' Sean Hannity Tuesday that he just now discovered Smith also attempted to subpoena his toll records but that his phone company AT T did not hand them over DEM REP DEFENDS DOJ OBTAINING GOP SENATOR CALL RECORDS IN 'YOU WEREN'T SURVEILLED'The Republicans have broadly claimed they were inappropriately spied on and compared Arctic Frost to the Watergate embarrassment Smith s lawyers emphasized the normalcy of seeking out phone records and mentioned that constituents functionaries are not immune from analysis Smith brought four criminal charges against Trump alleging he illegally attempted to overturn the results of the balloting but he dismissed the charges after Trump won the balloting citing a DOJ strategy that discourages prosecuting sitting presidents Former special counsel Robert Hur sought toll records during his scrutiny into former President Joe Biden s handling of classified documents The DOJ subpoenaed phone records of former Democratic Sen Robert Menendez who is serving prison time after he was convicted in of corruption charges The first Trump administration subpoenaed phone records of Rep Eric Swalwell D-Calif and then-Rep Adam Schiff D-Calif and dozens of congressional staffers from both parties as part of a leak review Former DOJ inspector general Michael Horowitz warned in a overview about the leak probe that lawmakers records should only be subpoenaed in narrow circumstances because it risks chilling Congress s ability to conduct oversight of the executive branch Smith's lawyers also disputed FBI Director Kash Patel s accusations that he attempted to hide the subpoenas in a lockbox in a vault noting that the former special counsel mentioned subpoenaing senators records in a footnote of his final special counsel analysis Moreover the precise records at issue were produced in discovery to President Trump s personal lawyers a few of whom now serve in senior positions within the Department of Justice Smith's lawyers disclosed
