WASHINGTON — A Texas Republican congressman tore into former special counsel Jack Smith during a Wednesday hearing after learning that his phone records were among more than a dozen seized amid the Trump prosecutor’s probe of 2020 election interference.
Smith maintained over the course of the more than five-hour House Judiciary Committee hearing that he pursued his investigation without “partisan loyalties” or “regrets” about the first prosecution of a former US president.
Few new details emerged from the ex-special counsel’s testimony, but the venue provided an opportunity for Judiciary Republicans to interrogate Smith about his decision to obtain sitting lawmakers’ phone metadata without their knowledge.
“Did you target my records and subpoena my phone?” Rep. Chip Roy said to Smith during questioning. AP
“Did you target my records and subpoena my phone?” Rep. Chip Roy fumed at Smith, brandishing a poster board behind him of at least 14 Republicans who also had their call logs subpoenaed.
“My understanding is your records were subpoenaed by prosecutors before I became special counsel,” Smith responded to Roy, while elsewhere in his testimony acknowledging that others, including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), were targeted.
“I learned for the first time a few weeks ago that my phone records were indeed targeted,” Roy revealed, displaying an internal government email on a TV in the hearing room.
“We called AT&T, and we’ve learned they were given to the Department of Justice, as this email indicates, because I’ve been in communication with [Rep.] Scott Perry [R-Pa.].”
“This happened four years ago in May of 2022, and I couldn’t object because I didn’t know — I didn’t know until about three weeks ago,” Roy also erupted.
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The former special counsel’s actions — which Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has likened to a “fishing expedition” — were hidden because Smith filed them under a non-disclosure order.
Grassley first obtained files from whistleblowers in October — revealing the investigative steps that became “the vehicle by which FBI agents and DOJ prosecutors could improperly investigate the entire Republican political apparatus.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Iowa), one of the more than dozen lawmakers targeted, has dubbed the disclosures “Joe Biden’s Watergate” and called for the impeachment of judges who signed off on the orders keeping them under wraps.
On Thursday, several House Republicans accused Smith of violating the Constitution’s Speech and Debate clause by seeking the information, which would have included other phones contacted by the lawmakers.
Many of the subpoenas sought contact information between Jan. 4 and 7 of 2021, the days immediately before and after the Capitol was breached by a mob of Trump’s supporters, halting the 2020 election’s certification.
“Was there any limits to your investigation or the investigation that preceded you, Mr. Smith?” asked Roy during his line of questioning.
“Because as egregious as a violation of separation of powers [is], this is an egregious, an abuse of power,” the Texas rep added. “It’s far more concerning. You were clearly targeting American citizens for merely being conservative or supporting the president.”