Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigative team obtained and reviewed text messages from 44 Members of Congress as part of the Biden Department of Justice’s criminal investigation into President Trump, according to a July 14 announcement by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Chairman Ron Johnson. The investigators reportedly bypassed a required Filter Team review process, raising concerns about investigative protocols and constitutional protections.
The records, released by Grassley and Johnson as part of their Arctic Frost oversight, were requested from the Department of Justice after whistleblower disclosures. According to the records, Smith’s team circumvented its own filter review process designed to protect privileged materials and directly accessed communications between senators, House members, and White House officials during Trump’s first term. The Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause protects such communications related to official legislative duties from criminal prosecution.
Grassley said, “Jack Smith’s criminal investigation of President Trump was a runaway train that had no brakes. 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,” Grassley said. He continued: “I hope my Democrat colleagues, several of whom had their own texts swept up, finally put partisanship aside and recognize the severity of these actions. Smith’s team ran roughshod over the Constitution even after repeated warnings. Jack Smith has answering to do, and I intend to have him before the Senate Judiciary Committee in the coming months to hold him accountable.”
Johnson said, “This is yet another grotesque example of the Biden administration’s weaponization of the Justice Department. 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.”
According to a summary in a Department of Justice cover letter provided with these records, a Filter Team was established for both January 6 (Project Coconut) investigations as well as Mar-a-Lago documents (Project Cranberry), meant “to prevent investigators from accessing privileged materials among records obtained during these investigations.” The letter states that “the Special Counsel’s Investigative Team apparently bypassed the Filter Team” when accessing congressional text messages.
The Senate Judiciary Committee affects constitutional protections nationwide through its legislative oversight duties; it aims to uphold constitutional standards while overseeing federal law enforcement activities; it is led by a chairperson who oversees hearings with senators from both major parties; it influences civil rights matters through legislation; serves as a standing committee with authority over judicial issues; all according to the official website.