House Judiciary Chair Probes AT&T, Verizon Role in Biden-Era Surveillance of GOP Lawmakers
House Judiciary Committee Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, launched an investigation Tuesday into the participation of AT&T and Verizon in former Special Counsel Jack Smith's reported surveillance of nine GOP lawmakers during the Biden administration. The FBI is already investigating claims that the agency and Smith’s Arctic Frost team, which probed the Jan. 6 Capitol siege, analyzed phone records of Senate Communications Subcommittee member Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and several other GOP lawmakers from Jan. 4-7, 2021 (see 2510070045). Blackburn and other affected lawmakers are also seeking information from the telecom companies (see 2510170039).
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“Recently released internal DOJ documents indicate that [Smith] compelled the production of phone records belonging to several Republican Members of Congress and simultaneously sought a gag order to prevent your company from disclosing the DOJ’s subpoenas into these individuals,” Jordan said in letters to Verizon CEO Dan Schulman and AT&T CEO John Stankey. “These findings raise serious concerns about potential statutory and constitutional violations, including violations of the Speech or Debate Clause, and we therefore request documents and information to aid in our oversight.”
AT&T has “received [Jordan’s] letter and will respond,” a spokesperson said. A Verizon spokesperson said that the company was cooperating with a court order at the time of Smith’s investigation and that DOJ decided which lawmakers were part of the probe.
Meanwhile, during a news conference Tuesday, Sen. Rick Scott and Rep. Byron Donalds, both R-Fla., called for impeaching Chief Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for approving nondisclosure orders barring AT&T and Verizon from telling GOP lawmakers that Smith had subpoenaed their communications records. “This guy’s gotta be out of office,” Scott said.