Four Republican senators have escalated their fight against the Biden administration's weaponized Justice Department, demanding full transparency about secret subpoenas for their phone records and pushing for accountability for those involved.
In a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.; Ted Cruz, R-Texas; Josh Hawley, R-Mo.; and Rick Scott, R-Fla., urged the DOJ to unseal the application behind a sweeping nondisclosure order signed by Obama-appointed U.S. District Judge James Boasberg.
That order forced telecom companies to hide from Congress that then-special counsel Jack Smith's team subpoenaed the tolling data — time, recipient, duration, and location — of calls made by at least 11 GOP lawmakers between Jan. 4 and Jan. 7, 2021, as part of the Arctic Frost probe.
"Astoundingly, Judge Boasberg found 'reasonable grounds' to conclude that, if we were notified of these unlawful subpoenas, such disclosure will result in destruction of or tampering with evidence [and] intimidation of potential witnesses," the senators wrote in the Nov. 6 letter, calling the claim baseless and insulting.
"Plain and simple: we did nothing wrong."
Under the Stored Communications Act, the DOJ must lay out specific factual reasons before a judge can gag providers from notifying targets. That application remains sealed inside grand jury files, and the senators say Americans have a right to see it.
"Jack Smith and the Biden DOJ spied on their political opponents, violated the Constitution, and weaponized the justice system to target members of Congress — all in an effort to go after President Trump," the letter states, calling Boasberg's order "a blatant abuse of power."
Blackburn and several colleagues previously asked Bondi to refer Smith to the DOJ's Office of Professional Responsibility and to state bar authorities for "serious prosecutorial misconduct," including using a grand jury subpoena "without sufficient rationale or cause" to sweep up lawmakers' phone records.
Meanwhile, Boasberg faces an ethics complaint from the watchdog group Center to Advance Security in America and articles of impeachment filed by Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, over the nondisclosure orders.
The complaint, highlighted by the Daily Caller, argued that secretly blocking Senate offices from learning of subpoenas for their official communications may violate federal law and the Constitution's separation of powers.
Smith's subpoenas sought detailed records of calls, texts, and voicemail metadata from multiple carriers.
Verizon reportedly complied, while AT&T balked, questioning the legal basis. Yet Boasberg still approved a yearlong gag order suggesting Republican senators might destroy evidence or intimidate witnesses if told their records were being seized.
The GOP senators say unsealing the gag-order application is a first step toward accountability.
"The American people deserve transparency about this egregious investigation and the full extent of the corruption of Jack Smith's witch hunt," they wrote. "We must get to the bottom of how this miscarriage of justice was allowed to happen — and ensure it never happens again."
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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