WASHINGTON — Former special counsel Jack Smith was referred to the Department of Justice office that deals with professional misconduct — as well as for disbarment by two state panels — following “deeply disturbing revelations” that he surreptitiously obtained congressional Republicans’ call logs.
A Friday letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi led by Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) accused former President Joe Biden’s DOJ of having “spied on duly elected members of Congress” and demanding that Smith be investigated by the department’s Office of Professional Responsibility.
“As part of Jack Smith’s weaponized witch hunt, the Biden DOJ issued subpoenas to several telecommunications companies in 2023 regarding our cell phone records, gaining access to the time, recipient, duration, and location of calls placed on our devices from January 4, 2021, to January 7, 2021,” Blackburn and the other lawmakers said.
“We have yet to learn of any legal predicate for the Biden Department of Justice issuing subpoenas to obtain these cell phone records,” added the GOP lawmakers, including Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.).
The elected officials also accused Smith — whose eventual federal cases against Trump received materials from the FBI’s “Arctic Frost” probe — of having infringed on the constitutional rights of elected officials and “trampled on this separation of powers principle that underlies our system of government.”
“This is especially true given the invasion of our privacy was directly connected to our core legislative functions protected by the Speech or Debate Clause of our Constitution,” the Republicans went on. “To the best we can tell, Smith’s team went on this fishing expedition for one simple reason: we are Republicans who support President Trump.”
In concluding the missive, the federally scrutinized senators suggested that Smith be referred for disbarment to the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility and the New York Attorney Grievance Committee, since he is licensed to practice law in both states.
“The conduct that Jack Smith and his team engaged in harkens back to a dark chapter in American history that we have not seen since the days of J. Edgar Hoover, and the completely corrupt investigation and prosecution by the FBI and DOJ of the late Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska,” they wrote. “We must ensure that we never return to these disgraceful eras.”
Smith got so-called “toll analysis,” or phone metadata that would reveal who was contacted, from nine Republicans in his 2020 election interference prosecution of President Trump. Five of the affected lawmakers signed onto the professional misconduct letter.
In adition to Blackburn, the other four were Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.).
Blackburn previously sent letters to Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile asking why the phone carriers let “this invasion of privacy … occur wholly unchallenged.”
The FBI investigation began in April 2022 and its materials were handed over to Smith in November of that year for what later became his election interference case, which indicted Trump on four counts in Washington, DC.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee and released the information on the phone records’ seizure earlier this month, claimed the investigative move was “arguably worse than Watergate.”
“What I’ve uncovered today is disturbing and outrageous political conduct by the Biden FBI,” he said. “The FBI’s actions were an unconstitutional breach, and Attorney General Bondi and [FBI] Director [Kash] Patel need to hold accountable those involved in this serious wrongdoing.”
The Iowa Republican has also released files showing 92 GOP-connected groups or people — including the late Turning Point USA founder and conservative icon Charlie Kirk — were targeted in the FBI’s Arctic Frost probe.
In addition, records disclosed by Patel’s FBI show Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) was tailed by agents at his congressional office in Washington, DC, and his district residence — and later had his phone seized as part of the probe.
Smith and reps for the DOJ’s Office of Professional Responsibility did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
