DOJ Probes Jack Smith's Review of 44 Lawmakers' Texts in Trump Election Case

3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Jul 15

44 current and former lawmakers' text messages were obtained and reviewed by Jack Smith's team, according to records cited at Todd Blanche's Senate confirmation hearing.
Todd Blanche said the Justice Department is now investigating how prosecutors accessed the communications, after Sen. John Kennedy questioned whether probable-cause and privilege safeguards were bypassed.
Chuck Grassley said records from the Trump Justice Department show Smith's team sidestepped an internal filter process designed to screen privileged material during Operation Arctic Frost, the FBI probe that underpinned Smith's election case against Trump.
Republicans used the hearing to intensify claims of Biden-era DOJ weaponization, with Sen. Eric Schmitt accusing Smith of misleading Congress by previously saying investigators had only phone logs, not message content.