{"id":2515836,"date":"2025-11-30T09:01:02","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T14:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/jack-smiths-team-knew-they-might-get-sued-for-secretly-seeking-senators-phone-records\/"},"modified":"2025-11-30T09:03:32","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T14:03:32","slug":"jack-smiths-team-knew-they-might-get-sued-for-secretly-seeking-senators-phone-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/jack-smiths-team-knew-they-might-get-sued-for-secretly-seeking-senators-phone-records\/","title":{"rendered":"Jack Smith&#8217;s Team Knew They Might Get Sued for Secretly Seeking Senators&#8217; Phone Records"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fjack-smiths-team-knew-they-might-get-sued-for-secretly-seeking-senators-phone-records%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2515836&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Special Counsel Jack Smith&#8217;s team continued to secretly seek phone and communication records of Republican members of Congress as part of the &#8220;arctic Frost&#8221; examination related to the 2020 election and actions around January 6,2021. Despite warnings from Justice Department officials about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/california-bill-preventing-local-school-board-from-rejecting-textbooks-in-limbo\/\" title=\"California bill to prevent local school boards from rejecting textbooks remains uncertain.\">potential legal risks<\/a> under the Speech or Debate Clause-which protects legislative acts-prosecutors pursued subpoenas for detailed call,text,and voicemail records. These subpoenas targeted nearly a dozen Republican lawmakers, including an extensive subpoena for House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan covering almost two years of records. The records were obtained under nondisclosure orders approved by a federal judge, keeping members unaware of the investigation. Prosecutors justified the subpoenas by aiming to identify who else had contacted these members. the revelations have drawn criticism from Republican senators, who accused Smith and the Biden DOJ of abusing constitutional protections to intrude on lawmakers&#8217; communications. A Senate provision allowing those whose phone records were seized to sue for damages was included in a government shutdown deal, though the House later voted to repeal it.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>Special counsel Jack Smith&rsquo;s team pressed forward with secretly seeking phone records for Republican members of Congress, even after being warned it exposed them to &ldquo;litigation risk,&rdquo; internal s show.<\/p>\n<p>s released Tuesday by Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grassley.senate.gov\/download\/doj-to-grassley-johnson_-pin-consultation\">reveal<\/a> prosecutors weighing which members of Congress to target with subpoenas as part of the &ldquo;Arctic Frost&rdquo; investigation, which became Smith&rsquo;s 2020 election case against President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;As you are aware, there is some litigation risk regarding whether compelled disclosure of toll records of a Member&rsquo;s legislative calls violates the Speech or Debate Clause in the D.C. Circuit,&rdquo; former head of the Justice Department Public Integrity Section John Keller told prosecutors in a May 2023  greenlighting the subpoenas.<\/p>\n<p>Smith&rsquo;s subpoenas for nearly a dozen Republican <a href=\"https:\/\/www.judiciary.senate.gov\/press\/rep\/releases\/grassley-opens-judiciary-committee-executive-business-meeting-highlights-proven-quality-of-trump-judges\">lawmakers<\/a>&nbsp;requested &ldquo;detailed records for inbound and outbound calls, text messages, direct connect, and voic messages&rdquo; between Jan. 4 and Jan. 7, 2021. Smith obtained nondisclosure orders hiding the requests from members, which were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grassley.senate.gov\/imo\/media\/doc\/grassley_johnson_jordan_to_boasberg_-_nondisclosure_orders.pdf\">approved<\/a> by Judge James Boasberg, an Obama appointee.<\/p>\n<p>A grand jury subpoena for House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan obtained by the Biden Justice Department requested records from a nearly <a href=\"https:\/\/judiciary.house.gov\/sites\/evo-subsites\/republicans-judiciary.house.gov\/files\/evo-media-document\/verizon-wireless-production-11.20.25.pdf\">two-year<\/a> time period.<\/p>\n<p> <script type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\tif ( getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"stnvideo\").remove() \t\t\t} else { \t\t\t\tdocument.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\", function() { \t\t\t\t\tfunction loadScript(src) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst script=document.createElement(\"script\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.src=src; \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.async=true; \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.body.appendChild(script); \t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\tfunction findPreviousParagraph(selector, x) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst targetElement=document.querySelector(selector); \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!targetElement) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Target element not found.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Get all <\/p>\n<p> elements in order as they appear in the document \t\t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphs=Array.from(document.querySelectorAll(\"p\"));  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the index of the last <\/p>\n<p> before the target element \t\t\t\t\t\tlet targetIndex=paragraphs.findIndex(p=> p.compareDocumentPosition(targetElement) & Node.DOCUMENT_POSITION_PRECEDING);  \t\t\t\t\t\tif (targetIndex===-1 || targetIndex <x) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Not enough paragraphs before the target element.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\treturn paragraphs[targetIndex - x]; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Set up IntersectionObserver \t\t\t\t\tfunction observeElement(element) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!element) return;  \t\t\t\t\t\tconst observer=new IntersectionObserver( \t\t\t\t\t\t\t(entries)=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tentries.forEach(entry=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tif (entry.isIntersecting) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log(\"Paragraph is now visible:\", entry.target.textContent.trim()); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tloadScript(\"https:\/\/embed.sendtonews.com\/player3\/embedcode.js?fk=s28Az7AY\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.disconnect(); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t}, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t{ threshold: 0.5 } \/\/ Adjust threshold as needed \t\t\t\t\t\t);  \t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.observe(element); \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the 1st paragraph before #stnvideo and observe it \t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphToObserve=findPreviousParagraph(\"#stnvideo\", 2); \t\t\t\t\tobserveElement(paragraphToObserve); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Even putting aside the government&rsquo;s potentially meritorious argument that the calls over the relevant period &mdash; especially <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >unsolicited incoming calls &#038;mdash<\/a>; would not <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/jack-smith-ignored-constitutional-standards-in-arctic-frost-lawfare\/\" title=\"Jack Smith Ignored Constitutional Standards In ... Lawfare\">constitute protected legislative acts<\/a>, given my understanding of the low likelihood that any of the Members listed below would be charged, the litigation risk should be minimal here,&rdquo; Keller wrote to prosecutors.<\/p>\n<p>Though prosecutors already had some member call records from a subpoena to Rudy Giuliani, they reasoned that seeking their records directly &ldquo;would allow us to understand who else may have called these Members.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors also considered issuing subpoenas to Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee and Republican Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy, according to s. They mixed up Sen. Tim Scott with Sen. Rick Scott, mistakenly placing the former on their initial list of targets, per the s.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The closer you look, the more brazen Jack Smith&rsquo;s actions become,&rdquo; Grassley said in a statement. &ldquo;These records show Smith and his merry band of partisans operating on a legally weak foundation by intruding on Members of Congress who were involved in core constitutional functions. Ultimately, the Biden DOJ threw the Constitution to the wind in seeking information about my colleagues.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The Senate deal to end the government shutdown included a provision that would allow lawmakers whose phone records were seized to sue for $500,000 per violation. The House of Representatives voted <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2025\/11\/19\/politics\/arctic-frost-provision-senators-house-vote\">unanimously<\/a> to repeal the provision on Nov. 19, but Senate Majority Leader John Thune has <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/senate\/5614047-thune-senate-cell-phone-litigation-house-vote\/\">defended<\/a> it.<\/p>\n<p>Smith&rsquo;s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<div class=\"disclaimer\">\n<p><em>All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter&rsquo;s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/mailto:licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org\">licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey==typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts={ \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs=[ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i=0; i <inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! ( opts[inputs[i]]=document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"' + inputs[i] + '\"]' ).value ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .required-message' ).style.display='block'; \t\t\t\t\t\treturn; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction input[type=\"submit\"]' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).src=firefly_loading_gif_url; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='inline-block';  \t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( 'ma subbing' );  \t\t\t\t\tif( firefly_post_id ) opts['post_id']=firefly_post_id;  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Send the data using post with element id name and name2*\/ \t\t\t\t\tvar posting=jQuery.post( firefly_ajax_url, opts );  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Alerts the results *\/ \t\t\t\t\tposting.done( function( response ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif( response.success ) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( response.data ); \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-confirm' ).style.display='block';  \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdataLayer.push( { 'event': 'submit-correction' } ); \t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> \t     \t\t\t\t\t\t     \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 1px solid #f5f5f5; padding: 16px;\">Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/advertise-us\/?wj_source=article\">Advertise Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><script>console.log(\"ad slot (BA1)\")<\/script> \t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Special counsel Jack Smith&#8217;s team continued to secretly obtain phone records of Republican members of Congress despite being cautioned that doing so posed &#8220;litigation risk,&#8221; according to internal documents. Released Tuesday by Senators Chuck Grassley (Iowa) and Ron Johnson (Wisconsin), the documents show prosecutors deliberating over which lawmakers to subpoena as part of the &#8220;Arctic Frost&#8221; investigation, which evolved into Smith&#8217;s 2020 election case against former President Donald Trump<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2515837,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Ben-Working-Feature-Image-2025-11-26T020753.510.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[36852,32463,57386,66210,3709],"class_list":["post-2515836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-government-surveillance","tag-jack-smith","tag-legal-investigation","tag-phone-records","tag-senators"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Ben-Working-Feature-Image-2025-11-26T020753.510.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2515836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2515836"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2515836\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2515840,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2515836\/revisions\/2515840"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2515837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2515836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2515836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2515836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}