Senator John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has joined Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) in requesting information from four major telecommunications companies regarding the release of Congressional Republicans’ telephone records. The request is connected to Special Counsel Jack Smith’s subpoenas issued during the Biden administration’s Arctic Frost investigation.
The letters were sent to Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Lumen. The senators are seeking all records that may have been handed over to the special counsel and have asked whether the companies challenged the subpoenas on any grounds.
“By law, the Senators’ offices retain possession of their Senate data from both dual use and Senate specific devices and service providers do not acquire ‘possession, custody, or control’ of that data,” the lawmakers wrote.
“Even if the phone numbers above do not fall into those categories, there are serious constitutional questions that those communications are still subject to constitutional protections. Indeed, the time period Jack Smith focused his secret efforts to obtain the records from constitutional officers falls squarely within a core constitutional duty – certification of the electoral college,” they added.
“That raises a reasonable concern that calls, texts, and emails sent from or to those devices may have been acts consistent with the duties of office. Accordingly, we request records of all requests or orders made by the Department of Justice (DOJ) or any federal law enforcement agency to you, informally or formally, through service of legal process, for all data or information related to the following Members’ devices where you were the provider,” the members of Congress continued.
Other lawmakers who signed the letters include Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.) and Ashley Moody (R-Fla.). Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) also joined.
On October 9, Kennedy participated in another letter led by Grassley and Johnson requesting information from the Department of Justice and FBI about Smith’s subpoenas for Republican lawmakers’ telephone records.
The full text of the letters sent to Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Lumen can be accessed online.
