U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley is leading 15 Senate colleagues in a letter seeking answers from Verizon regarding its decision to provide senators’ phone toll records to Special Counsel Jack Smith and the company’s failure to inform affected members of Congress, according to a July 31 statement.
Earlier this year, the CEOs of Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile were called to testify before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law. In October 2023, Grassley requested that Verizon search for all requests or orders from the Department of Justice or any federal law enforcement agency between January 2016 and October 2023 related to Senate devices and Crossfire Hurricane. In response, Verizon did not disclose subpoena requests issued by Smith under Arctic Frost that accessed senators’ toll records during that period.
Grassley and his colleagues are asking whether Verizon discovered these Arctic Frost subpoena requests in 2023 while searching for member device information, and if so, why it did not disclose them at that time. “Jack Smith oversaw a sweeping and unprecedented investigation that swept up records from hundreds of Republican entities, including the phone toll records and text messages from myself and dozens of my colleagues,” Grassley said. “Congress deserves to know the full picture of how Smith carried out Arctic Frost so it never happens again. As part of our investigation, we need to fully understand what Verizon knew about Smith’s subpoenas, when they became aware members were impacted, and why the company didn’t inform members like they were supposed to.”
The letter was cosigned by U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Chairman Ron Johnson as well as Senators Bill Hagerty, Rick Scott, Mike Lee, Tommy Tuberville, Ted Cruz, Marsha Blackburn, Ashley Moody, John Kennedy, Josh Hawley, Katie Britt, Eric Schmitt, Darline Graham (S.C.), John Cornyn (Texas), and Cindy Hyde-Smith (Mississippi). An asterisk denotes senators whose phone toll records or text messages were included in Jack Smith’s investigation.
The Senate Judiciary Committee serves as a standing committee with authority over judicial matters such as reviewing legislation related to constitutional protections; overseeing federal law enforcement; evaluating judicial nominations; influencing civil rights; public safety; holding meetings; conducting hearings; and includes members from both major political parties based in Washington, D.C., according to the official website.