GOP lawmakers ask Bondi to investigate Jack Smith over Jan. 6 investigation
Five Republican lawmakers are asking Attorney General Pam Bondi to refer Jack Smith to the Department of Justice for investigation. They allege Smith, while investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, broke rules when he obtained phone records of Republican lawmakers.
Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, and Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Penn., all signed the letter to Bondi. On Oct. 6, documents showed that the FBI analyzed phone records of nine Republicans in 2023. Smith’s team collected the data over several days during the week of the insurrection.
In November 2022, former Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith to oversee the criminal investigations into President Donald Trump’s actions regarding the Jan. 6 riots and his handling of classified documents.
What do the lawmakers allege?
The five Republicans claim Smith broke the Rules of Professional Conduct by requesting these records. Smith did not receive the content of the calls, only the names of the lawmakers dialed and the duration of those calls, according to the documents.
“One thing is clear: Jack Smith was a rogue Special Counsel who … would do anything to stop President Trump—including taking concerted steps to spy on duly elected members of Congress,” the letter stated.
Besides the five lawmakers who wrote the letter, Smith also obtained the cell phone records of Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn.
Has Smith responded?
According to Politico, lawmakers were aware that Smith had obtained some of their phone records. Smith’s report also stated that he had consulted the Justice Department’s manual and with the Public Integrity Section, referred to as PIN. The PIN oversees investigations of all federal crimes affecting government integrity.
Three days before lawmakers sent the letter to Bondi, Smith spoke out against the Trump administration in an interview at University College London law school. He warned that attacks on public servants would create an “incalculable” cost.
“I think the attacks on public servants, particularly nonpartisan public servants — I think it has a cost for our country that is incalculable, and I think that we — it’s hard to communicate to folks how much that is going to cost us,” Smith said.
The DOJ has indicted three political critics of Trump, former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James and former Trump national security adviser John Bolton, since the president returned to office.
Many legal experts criticized the indictments, with one saying the judge may dismiss Comey’s case.
“This is the kind of thing that should never ever happen,” former federal terrorism prosecutor Andy McCarthy told Politico. “This case should never go to trial because it’s obvious from the four corners of the indictment that there’s no case.”
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
