Five GOP senators ask AG Bondi to refer Jack Smith for misconduct after call logs seizure by FBI

Five Republican lawmakers, led by Sens. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, have sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi asking that former Special Counsel Jack Smith be referred to the Department of Justice’s Office of Professional Responsibility for alleged misconduct. The group also called for Smith to be referred to the Tennessee and New York state bar associations, where he is licensed, for potential disbarment.

Among the five signers is Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan. The lawmakers phone records were seized as part of the FBI’s “Arctic Frost” investigation, which was overseen by Smith. The letter says the Justice Department obtained “tolling data” that included call times, recipients, duration, and location from their personal devices covering Jan. 4 through Jan. 7, 2021. This was the timeframe that captured the Jan. 6 protest and disruption at the US Capitol during the certification of the 2020 presidential election. The FBI was fishing for information that might link Republican lawmakers to the disorderly protest.

The letter, addressed to Bondi, opens by calling the subpoenas an act of political retaliation as the Biden administration “spied on duly elected members of Congress.” The senators write that they are unaware of any legal basis for the subpoenas and describe the action as a “fishing expedition geared toward targeting President Trump.”

“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. We have yet to learn of any legal predicate for the Biden Department of Justice issuing subpoenas to obtain these cell phone records,” the letter says.

The senators argue that Smith’s conduct represented a breach of constitutional protections, including the separation of powers and the Speech or Debate Clause, which shields members of Congress from executive branch intrusion into their legislative work. “By infringing on our constitutional rights and obligations as elected federal officials,” they wrote, “Jack Smith and his team of prosecutors trampled on this separation of powers principle that underlies our system of government.”

The lawmakers say that Smith’s office used a federal grand jury subpoena to obtain the records of sitting members of Congress “without any sufficient rationale or cause,” and that the only apparent reason for the subpoenas was that the targets were Republicans who supported Donald Trump. They assert that Smith’s actions fell below the professional standards required of Justice Department attorneys and violated the Rules of Professional Conduct in both Tennessee and New York, which prohibit the use of legal means intended to “embarrass, delay, or burden” a third person or to obtain evidence through unlawful methods.

“In addition to these constitutional concerns, we believe that Jack Smith engaged in serious prosecutorial misconduct. Without any sufficient rationale or cause, Jack Smith’s team used a federal grand jury subpoena to obtain the phone records of sitting United States Senators and a Member of the House of Representatives. 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.”

The letter urges Bondi to have the Office of Professional Responsibility investigate Smith and any prosecutors who assisted in the subpoenas, and upon completion of that review, to forward the findings to the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility and the New York Attorney Grievance Committee. The senators write that those bodies should “consider all options in holding Smith accountable for this misconduct, including disbarment.”

The lawmakers compared Smith’s actions to “a dark chapter in American history,” citing abuses under FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and the prosecution of the late Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens.

They said the goal of their referral is to prevent a repeat of those events and to ensure accountability within the Department of Justice.