Newly released documents have pulled back the curtain on a sweeping effort by former special counsel Jack Smith to obtain nearly two years of phone records belonging to FBI Director Kash Patel. The records, made public by Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley ahead of a Tuesday hearing, show that Smith’s team successfully subpoenaed Patel’s call and text logs, though the content of those messages was not included.
Beyond phone data, the subpoenas sought Patel’s residential, mailing, and email addresses. Two separate requests covered overlapping periods between October 2020 and February 2023.
These subpoenas were kept from public view through nondisclosure orders signed by U.S. Magistrate Judge James Mazzone and U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell.
The disclosures also highlight a January 2023 list of high-profile targets Smith’s team considered subpoenaing. The list featured several prominent Republicans, including current EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, Paul Gosar, and Matt Gaetz.
Other records previously released by Senator Grassley confirmed that toll records were sought for more than a dozen GOP members of Congress, such as former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Senator Ted Cruz.
READ: The Man Who Defied ‘Saint Fauci’: Florida Gov. DeSantis Recalls The Heat Over His COVID Strategy
Internal communications reveal a degree of caution within the special counsel’s office regarding the scale of these requests. One prosecutor wrote in an email, “It just occurred to me that before we tell Main [main justice] we are going to fire off subpoenas for so many members tolls I should make sure Jack’s aware.”
“The American people deserve to know the full extent of Jack Smith’s partisan investigative tactics,” Senator Ron Johnson said in a statement. He added that he expects AT&T and Verizon to comply with subpoenas for further evidence regarding what he described as the weaponization of the justice system.
The documents further suggest a heavier reliance on the January 6 Committee’s report than Smith previously acknowledged. While Smith’s official report stated the committee’s work was only a “small part” of the office’s record, a January 2023 briefing indicated his team “went over it page by page” to build their investigative plan.
Additionally, during House Judiciary Committee testimony in January, Smith admitted that witness Cassidy Hutchinson was not ruled out as a witness, despite acknowledging parts of her testimony were “hearsay.”
Testimony from phone company executives in February revealed that Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T received at least 84 subpoenas during the investigation. AT&T was reportedly the only provider to question a subpoena, specifically asking if the request for Senator Cruz’s records touched on constitutional protections.
Senator Grassley used his opening statement Tuesday to defend the timing of the investigation into Smith’s methods. “If we’d followed the Democrats’ premature and ill-advised strategy, we wouldn’t have had a great deal of information we now have that shows Jack Smith misled Congress and the public, if not outright lied,” Grassley said.
Please make a small donation to the Tampa Free Press to help sustain independent journalism. Your contribution enables us to continue delivering high-quality, local, and national news coverage.
Sign up: Subscribe to our free newsletter for a curated selection of top stories delivered straight to your inbox
