If you ever wondered what happens when a special counsel decides the rulebook is more of a suggestion than a requirement, look no further than the latest revelations about Jack Smith's Arctic Frost investigation.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Senator Ron Johnson released DOJ records on Tuesday showing that Smith's investigative team obtained and reviewed the actual text message contents of 44 members of Congress. As Trending Politics reported, the messages came from a June 2023 subpoena Smith's office sent to the National Archives seeking texts from October 2020 through January 20, 2021, from phones tied to White House personnel during Trump's first term.
The National Archives handed the materials over on August 21, 2023. Within approximately 30 minutes, senior lawyer Thomas Windom on Smith's team had downloaded the texts. Within an hour, additional team members were diving in. That is some impressive hustle for a government operation. These people moved faster than most of us respond to a dinner reservation confirmation.
Here is where it gets especially fun. According to the DOJ's own cover letter, Smith's team completely bypassed the required Filter Team review process. That process exists specifically to screen for privileged communications, things like Speech or Debate Clause protections for members of Congress and attorney-client privilege. You know, constitutional stuff. Minor details.
The 44 lawmakers whose texts got swept up include roughly 20 senators and 24 House members from both parties. We are talking about Grassley himself, Lindsey Graham, Josh Hawley, Rand Paul, John Cornyn, Mike Lee, Kevin McCarthy, Jim Jordan, Thomas Massie, and others. Even Democrats like Cory Booker and Karen Bass made the list, which is a nice bipartisan touch.
Grassley did not mince words about it. "Jack Smith's criminal investigation of President Trump was a runaway train that had no brakes," he said. He added that investigators "apparently ignored their own routine investigative protocols" and that Smith's team "ran roughshod over the Constitution even after repeated warnings." Grassley said he intends to have Smith appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee in the coming months.
This is particularly awkward because these records reportedly contradict prior testimony Smith gave under oath before the House Judiciary Committee, where he stated his team had not requested or reviewed such messages. That is the kind of contradiction that tends to generate follow-up questions.
The broader Arctic Frost investigation was no small operation either. It issued at least 197 grand jury subpoenas seeking records related to approximately 430 Republican individuals and entities, including private citizens, Trump associates, and organizations. Critics have long described Smith's approach as fishing expeditions, where you pick your targets first and then go looking for something to charge them with. Based on these numbers, the man was not fishing with a rod. He was using dynamite.
Grassley urged his Democratic colleagues, several of whom had their own texts caught up in the dragnet, to "put partisanship aside and recognize the severity of these actions." Whether that actually happens is anyone's guess, but at least the ask was made.
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