Former special counsel Jack Smith’s investigative team obtained and reviewed the contents of text messages exchanged between Trump White House officials and 44 current and former members of Congress, according to Justice Department records released by two Republican-led Senate committees. The messages were contained in White House records subpoenaed from the National Archives, covering the period from Oct. 1, 2020, through Jan. 20, 2021. The Justice Department stated that Smith’s team “apparently bypassed” a filter team established to screen potentially privileged material before investigators accessed it.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, on Wednesday issued a criminal referral for Smith, arguing that he misled Congress when he stated that he did not obtain or review lawmakers’ text messages while carrying out his probes into President Donald Trump. The referral functions as an invitation for the Justice Department to launch an investigation into Smith’s conduct. Jordan’s action follows a hearing where Smith’s handling of the investigation was thrust back into the spotlight, particularly regarding the exposure of senators’ messages.
The list of 44 lawmakers includes 20 senators and 24 House members, spanning both parties. Among the senators targeted were Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa; Ron Johnson, R-Wis.; John Cornyn, R-Texas; Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; Josh Hawley, R-Mo.; Mike Lee, R-Utah; Cory Booker, D-N.J.; Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss.; Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska; David Perdue, R-Ga.; Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.; Martha McSally, R-Ariz.; Rand Paul, R-Ky.; Rick Scott, R-Fla.; Rob Portman, R-Ohio; Roy Blunt, R-Mo.; Susan Collins, R-Maine; Tim Scott, R-S.C.; Tom Cotton, R-Ark.; and Cory Gardner, R-Colo. On the House side, the investigation targeted Reps. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.; Steve Scalise, R-La.; Jim Jordan, R-Ohio; Devin Nunes, R-Calif.; Adam Smith, D-Wash.; Andy Biggs, R-Ariz.; Mark Walker, R-N.C.; Bryan Steil, R-Wis.; Dan Newhouse, R-Wash.; Doug Collins, R-Ga.; Dusty Johnson, R-S.D.; Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y.; John Katko, R-N.Y.; Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J.; Karen Bass, D-Calif.; Ken Buck, R-Colo.; Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y.; Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla.; Mo Brooks, R-Ala.; Morgan Griffith, R-Va.; Rodney Davis, R-Ill.; Russ Fulcher, R-Idaho; Scott Perry, R-Pa.; and Thomas Massie, R-Ky.
Several lawmakers on the list had publicly documented roles in efforts surrounding the 2020 election, including those who have since condemned Smith’s review of their communications. Sen. Chuck Grassley, who as president pro tempore of the Senate played a procedural role on Jan. 6, 2021, as Congress moved to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election, criticized the investigation. “Jack Smith’s criminal investigation of President Trump was a runaway train that had no brakes,” Grassley said. “Based on the information that’s been produced to me and Senator Johnson, Biden DOJ and FBI investigators apparently ignored their own routine investigative protocols to obtain and review work-related messages from me and dozens of my Republican and Democrat colleagues who were outside the scope of the government’s investigation.”
Sen. Ron Johnson, who in the lead-up to Jan. 6 joined a group of Republican senators calling for an emergency 10-day audit of disputed election results, also condemned the seizure. “This is yet another grotesque example of the Biden administration’s weaponization of the Justice Department,” Johnson said. “Jack Smith’s team acted with impunity as they disregarded their own protocols to obtain and access White House text messages, including messages to and from 44 Members of Congress. This is precisely why Chairman Grassley and I have worked to uncover the truth, bring transparency to the American people, and hold accountable those who weaponized federal law enforcement.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, who in the days after the 2020 election urged Trump not to concede and later donated to Trump’s legal defense fund, was also among those whose messages were reviewed. Graham, as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee at the time, opened inquiries into election procedures in several battleground states and contacted state election officials. The late South Carolina senator eventually broke with Trump’s movement following the riot on Jan. 6, saying, “Count me out. Enough is enough.”
Republicans have been intensely critical of the House Jan. 6 committee, arguing that it lacked a meaningful voice for the opposition since then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., selected every member while rejecting the nominations put forward by McCarthy. They also argued that the committee focused too little on security and intelligence failures ahead of the breach of the Capitol. The release of these documents by Grassley and Johnson, who hold senior committee positions, is part of a broader effort to investigate what they describe as the weaponization of federal law enforcement. Fox News Digital reached out to every current lawmaker named on the list for comment.
