Privacy concerns dominated a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing Tuesday as lawmakers examined how former special counsel Jack Smith subpoenaed phone records tied to Republican members of Congress during the Arctic Frost investigation.
Subcommittee chair Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), whose records were among those subpoenaed, told The Daily Wire the hearing was aimed at ensuring “this never happens to an American citizen again,” arguing the probe was “much deeper and much broader than Watergate.”
Smith subpoenaed the phone records of at least ten Republican senators and one GOP House member, according to The Hill.
A key moment focused on how AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile handled at least 84 subpoenas related to Arctic Frost and other matters tied to Smith, according to Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Ron Johnson (R-WI).
Verizon acknowledged it had no internal process in place in May 2023 to identify when subpoenaed records belonged to a member of Congress.
“So what you are saying is that you had no process in place…and you had no way of identifying that something was a Member of Congress’ records?” Blackburn asked Verizon senior vice president and general counsel Chris Miller.
“That’s correct,” Miller replied.
Pressed on why Verizon did not follow AT&T’s lead in flagging similar requests, Miller said AT&T’s response “was a good catch,” prompting Blackburn to respond, “I didn’t ask you to speak for them. I asked why you did not take an action, and you did not.”
Blackburn told The Daily Wire that AT&T ultimately flagged the congressional subpoenas internally after initially turning over records tied to Reps. Chip Roy (R-TX) and former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
According to Blackburn, when AT&T later received a request involving Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), someone in its legal department raised concerns about potential Speech and Debate Clause violations and contacted Smith’s team. She said AT&T “never heard another word from Jack Smith.”
“Verizon and T-Mobile, on the other hand, turned over everything without questioning if there was a privacy violation,” Blackburn said, adding that they did not challenge the non-disclosure orders attached to the requests.
In his opening testimony, Miller said the subpoenas identified phone numbers, not names, and that the company was “now” aware some of the phone numbers belonged to members of Congress, including “personal lines, campaign lines, or official lines.” He said a judge had imposed a non-disclosure order on the request, which prevents them from notifying people involved, and that its response team determined the subpoenas were “valid and legal.”
“We fully complied with the law,” Miller said, while acknowledging the company “could have done better in terms of our process.” He added that Verizon has since worked with the Senate Sergeant at Arms to revise its handling of legal demands for congressional lines.
T-Mobile general counsel Mark Nelson similarly said that his company receives an “enormous volume” of law enforcement requests and treated the subpoenas “carefully, consistently, and in full compliance with the law.”
The Arctic Frost investigation ultimately led to a federal indictment of President Donald Trump related to his actions following the 2020 election. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.
Democrats have criticized the hearings, arguing they amount to an attempt to “relitigate” the elections.
“EIGHT hearings to relitigate the 2020 presidential election,” Senate Judiciary Democrats posted to X. “ZERO are worth the time.”
