Former Special Counsel Jack Smith is under fire for allegedly snooping on congressional Republicans in a move straight out of a political thriller.
The New York Post reported that the blistering accusation that Smith, alongside the Biden Department of Justice, accessed private phone records of GOP lawmakers without clear legal grounding, sparking a referral for investigation and potential disbarment.
This saga began back in April 2022 with an FBI probe dubbed "Arctic Frost," targeting various Republican figures and groups.
By November 2022, materials from this investigation were handed to Smith for his case on election interference involving President Trump, leading to a four-count indictment in Washington, D.C.
In 2023, subpoenas were issued to telecom giants like Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile, pulling detailed call logs, including time, recipient, duration, and location, from January 4 to January 7, 2021.
The targets? High-profile GOP senators and representatives, including Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and Josh Hawley of Missouri, among others.
Sen. Blackburn, leading the charge, fired off a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi on Friday, accusing Smith and the Biden DOJ of trampling on constitutional protections by spying on elected officials.
Five of the affected lawmakers joined Blackburn in signing this letter, demanding accountability for what they see as a gross overreach into their private communications.
“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,” stated Sen. Blackburn and fellow lawmakers.
That quote lands like a punch—how does a government justify rifling through the personal data of elected officials without a rock-solid legal basis? It smells like political targeting dressed up as justice.
Adding fuel to the fire, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, recently released damning details about the scope of this phone record seizure, calling it “disturbing and outrageous political conduct” by the Biden FBI.
Grassley’s revelations include the fact that 92 Republican-connected individuals or groups, including the late Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, were swept up in the Arctic Frost net.
Even more chilling, records from FBI Director Kash Patel show Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania was physically tailed by agents at both his congressional office and district home before having his phone seized. If that doesn’t scream overreach, what does?
Smith now faces scrutiny from the DOJ’s Office of Professional Responsibility for misconduct, alongside referrals for disbarment to licensing boards in Tennessee and New York, where he practices law. Neither Smith nor the DOJ has offered a peep in response to these allegations.