House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan has accused former Special Counsel Jack Smith of misleading Congress. Jordan claims Smith denied obtaining text messages from lawmakers under oath, but evidence suggests otherwise for 44 members. He emphasizes that Smith’s team failed to filter privileged legislative communications, citing the Speech or Debate Clause, and calls for accountability.
Fox News Digital reports that Smith’s investigators obtained records involving communications between journalists and Trump administration officials. This action followed subpoenas for text-message records linked to White House phones during an investigation into President Donald Trump. The records include interactions with journalists from major news organizations, including Fox News, CNN, and CBS News.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, spoke about the overreach, noting a lack of coverage by mainstream media. The records came from a subpoena issued on June 2, 2023, for communications tied to 87 White House phones. The National Archives responded to this subpoena in August 2023.
Grassley and other Republicans have questioned how potentially privileged materials were screened before usage by investigators. An email from Assistant Special Counsel Thomas Windom instructed Smith’s team to access documents from these text messages.
The committee has identified journalists in the records but decided not to release names due to privacy concerns. The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to investigate Smith’s handling of the records and his broader investigative practices.
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