GOP Lawmakers Fume After Revelation Jack Smith Obtained Texts From Trump Admin and Dozens of Lawmakers: ‘A Blatant Abuse of Power’

J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo

Republican lawmakers skewered Jack Smith after it was revealed the former special counsel accessed text messages from dozens of congress members and officials from President Donald Trump’s first administration.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) published documents on Tuesday after receiving them from the Justice Department. The files purported to show Smith read messages from 44 lawmakers — including Grassley, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), and Sen. Susan Collins (R-MA) on the GOP side — and a number of Trump officials between October 2020 and January 20, 2021, the day Trump’s first term ended. The messages were obtained as part of Smith’s investigation leading up to the events of Jan. 6.

Smith also accessed messages from Democratic politicians like Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. Trump officials who were on the list released Tuesday include; Stephen Miller, Rudy Giuliani, Kellyanne Conway, Peter Navarro, the president’s daughter Ivanka Trump, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, and ex-Vice President Mike Pence.

Numerous GOP lawmakers shared a video of a Congressional deposition from December in which Smith answered “no” when asked if he had looked at the “content of text messages” during his Trump investigations. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) accused Smith of lying in that testimony on Tuesday. Paul posted the video of Smith’s answer and said the files confirm he “spied” on lawmakers, including himself.

“This is a blatant abuse of power, and exactly what our Founders warned about,” Paul said.

Grassley ripped Smith for it as well.

“Jack Smith’s criminal investigation of President Trump was a runaway train that had no brakes,” Grassley said in a statement. “Based on the information that’s been produced to me and Senator Johnson, Biden DOJ and FBI investigators apparently ignored their own routine investigative protocols to obtain and review work-related messages from me and dozens of my Republican and Democrat colleagues who were outside the scope of the government’s investigation.”

The New York Post reported:

Grassley’s office previously disclosed subpoenas of 430 Republican individuals or groups for various records — in addition to phone logs from more than a dozen GOPers — as part of what the Iowa Republican claimed was a “fishing expedition” on Smith’s part.

The special counsel’s office had established a so-called “Filter Team” to ensure they weren’t accessing privileged documents or violating officials’ constitutional rights when reviewing messages that had been sought from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

Johnson in his own statement said the files showed “yet another grotesque example” of ex-President Joe Biden’s “weaponization of the Justice Department.”

He added, “Jack Smith’s team acted with impunity as they disregarded their own protocols to obtain and access White House text messages, including messages to and from 44 Members of Congress. At this point, no one should be shocked by Jack Smith’s recklessness and blatant abuse of power, but they should be outraged.”

No Democratic lawmakers criticized Smith over the documents.

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