Jack Smith admitted that judges were not told his team was seizing the phone records of Republican congressmen when asked to sign off on nondisclosure orders for associated subpoenas, according to a transcript of the ex-special counsel's deposition obtained by the New York Post on Wednesday.
Smith told members of the House Judiciary Committee in his testimony on Dec. 17 that keeping the subpoenas — which were part of the FBI's investigation into 2020 election interference — hidden was necessary to avoid a "grave risk of obstruction of justice."
Asked by a Judiciary Committee member whether judges who approved the subpoenas knew they were demanding that AT&T and Verizon hand over the call logs of lawmakers, Smith said, "I don't think we identified that, because I don't think that was department policy at the time."
Judiciary members said Smith's team risked infringing on constitutional "speech or debate protections" for lawmakers — about a dozen of whom had their cellphone metadata taken.
The FBI also surveilled Pennsylvania GOP Rep. Scott Perry at his congressional office and home before taking his cellphone, according to unclassified bureau records first obtained by the Post. This was the only known seizure of a lawmaker's device during the probe.
The lawmakers who were targeted have called for the impeachment of federal District Court Judge James Boasberg in Washington, D.C., for granting the phone record requests — though Smith's testimony suggests that the judge may not have been aware of the named targets.
Senators who were spied on could be awarded up to $500,000 each if their electronic records were seized without notification, following a provision tucked into a bill signed into law by President Donald Trump to end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
The former special counsel repeatedly emphasized that the seizure of all phone records was lawful, saying "we got these records in a manner that was consistent with the law and consistent with department policy. There was nothing improper about how we got these records."
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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