by Christina Park
Records released by Senate oversight committees reveal that Jack Smith’s investigative team bypassed internal filter teams to view the text messages of 44 lawmakers during the Trump probe
Newly released records reveal that Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team bypassed mandatory protocols to secretly access the private text messages of 44 members of Congress during the probe into President Donald Trump, the Justice Department confirmed Tuesday.
The disclosure, confirmed by records released by the Senate Judiciary Committee, has become a major constitutional flashpoint.
As lawmakers confront the reality that their private communications were accessed without following established filter protocols, the inquiry is igniting a broader debate over the separation of powers between the executive branch and the legislative body.
“Communications from Members of Congress pertaining to their official legislative duties are protected from criminal prosecution under the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause,” the Senate Judiciary’s press release said.
The Speech or Debate Clause of the U.S. Constitution (Article I, Section 6) serves as a check on executive power and is designed to prevent members of Congress from being “questioned in any other Place,” ensuring they cannot be subjected to the scrutiny of the Justice Department or the judicial branch for their legislative acts.
Yet DOJ records released to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, reveal that former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team reviewed the texts of 44 members of Congress, including 40 Republicans and four Democrats, during the investigation into President Donald Trump.
The investigation, led by Grassley and Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., uncovered these records after receiving legally protected whistleblower disclosures, after which they formally requested records from the DOJ.
“This is a blatant abuse of power, and exactly what our Founders warned about,” Senator Rand Paul, R-Ky., also wrote on X. Paul also called out Jack Smith, where, during a December 2025 congressional deposition when he was asked under oath whether his team had reviewed the content of text messages belonging to members of Congress, he answered, “No.”
December 2025: Jack Smith swore under oath that he didn't spy on text messages belonging to members of Congress.
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) July 14, 2026
Today: New evidence confirms he spied on dozens of members of Congress, myself included.
This is a blatant abuse of power, and exactly what our Founders warned… pic.twitter.com/3eqwiylLXI
Smith had been appointed by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland in November 2022 to oversee the Biden DOJ’s investigation into President Donald Trump after his announcement of this third presidential campaign.
The records released by Senators Grassley and Johnson provide evidence that the Biden DOJ established a “Filter Team” to evaluate materials obtained in the course of Jack Smith’s investigations. These included a probe relating to January 6 codenamed “Project Coconut,” an investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, known as Project “Cranberry,” all part of “Arctic Frost,” a sweeping probe into efforts to challenge 2020 election results, the press release said.
While the Filter Team’s purpose was to prevent investigators from the Special Counsel’s Office and the FBI from accessing privileged materials among records obtained, evidence shows that investigators bypassed this, potentially infringing on constitutional guardrails, according to the release.
Smith was ultimately unable to secure a conviction against Trump, bringing his efforts into further scrutiny. The Special Counsel’s Office had obtained the private text messages through a subpoena to the National Archives and Records Administration for phone records stored between October 2020 to January 20, 2022, which were handed over on August 21, 2023.
The phones were associated with a long list of officials serving in the White House during President Trump’s first term, including Trump himself, as well as Stephen Miller, Rudy Giuliani, Kellyanne Conway, Peter Navarro, the president’s daughter Ivanka Trump, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and former Vice President Mike Pence.
Smith’s investigative team downloaded and began reviewing the texts without waiting for the Filter Team’s evaluation.
“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,” said Grassley in his statement, who was also targeted in these investigations.
Meanwhile, the scope of this investigative overreach has been igniting sharp backlash on Capitol Hill.
“They're sick and tired of Americans being spied on. And my message to the American people is: if they'll do it to senators and congressmen, guess what? They'll do it to you as well," said Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz, a former U.S. Navy SEAL on the Just the News, No Noise show on Tuesday.
Crane also said that he had “several friends” who had found out they had been spied on, including Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., saying that “these individuals who engaged in that type of behavior absolutely need to be held accountable.”
Missouri Senator Josh Hawley also slammed the findings of the DOJ records, writing on X, “Joe Biden’s DOJ not only tapped my phone; I just learned they ILLEGALLY obtained my texts with members of President Trump’s administration,” adding, “Everyone involved needs to be PROSECUTED.”
Lawmakers are now calling for a full-scale investigation into the breach, decrying what Senator Ron Johnson described as the “Biden administration’s weaponization of the Justice Department.” At the core of their concerns is whether the government has prioritized its investigative reach over constitutional restraints.
Grassley has stated he intends to have former Special Counsel Jack Smith appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee to hold him accountable.
“I hope my Democrat colleagues, several of whom had their own texts swept up, finally put partisanship aside and recognize the severity of these actions. Smith’s team ran roughshod over the Constitution even after repeated warnings,” Grassley said. Crane echoed these concerns.
“You know what they say: if these folks aren't held accountable, it's going to happen again, and the American people are sick and tired of a two-tiered justice system,” he said.
Christina Park
Source: https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/doj-records-show-special-counsel-accessed-texts-congressmen-raising-constitutional
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