Blackburn Leads Colleagues in Calling for DOJ Investigation into Jack Smith for Spying on Republican Members of Congress
October 17, 2025
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Today, U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn led Members of Congress who were spied on by President Joe Biden’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in sending a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi urging her to refer former Special Counsel Jack Smith to the Department of Justice’s Office of Professional Responsibility for investigation. Jack Smith allegedly engaged in serious prosecutorial misconduct through the politically motivated Arctic Frost investigation and must face appropriate consequences, up to and including disbarment.
This follows Senator Blackburn’s efforts to demand answers from cell phone carriers as to why these companies allowed the Biden FBI to allegedly track the private communications and phone calls of eight U.S. Senators, including Senator Blackburn.
Jack Smith Must Be Held Accountable for Weaponized Witch Hunt
“We write today following last week’s deeply disturbing revelations that the Biden Department of Justice (DOJ) spied on duly elected members of Congress, specifically seeking and ultimately obtaining ‘tolling data’ from cell phones as part of its corrupt, politically motivated Arctic Frost investigation. It is clear to us that this invasion of our privacy was nothing more than a fishing expedition geared toward targeting President Trump. For the reasons outlined below, we request that you immediately refer Jack Smith to the Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR). As part of Jack Smith’s weaponized witch hunt, the Biden DOJ issued subpoenas to several telecommunications companies in 2023 regarding our cell phone records, gaining access to the time, recipient, duration, and location of calls placed on our devices from January 4, 2021, to January 7, 2021. We have yet to learn of any criminal predicate for the Biden Department of Justice issuing subpoenas to obtain these cell phone records.”
As a Rogue Special Counsel, Jack Smith Would Do Anything to Stop President Trump
“While we await further details on these troubling revelations as DOJ and the FBI continue to investigate, one thing is clear: Jack Smith was a rogue Special Counsel who, based on his conduct in the Arctic Frost matter, would do anything to stop President Trump—including taking concerted steps to spy on duly elected members of Congress. In the United States, one of the fundamental principles of our constitutional republic is the concept of separation of powers. By infringing on our constitutional rights and obligations as elected federal officials, Jack Smith and his team of prosecutors trampled on this separation of powers principle that underlies our system of government. This is especially true given the invasion of our privacy was directly connected to our core legislative functions protected by the Speech or Debate Clause of our Constitution.”
Jack Smith Likely Engaged in Serious Prosecutorial Misconduct by Spying on Members of Congress and Should Be Referred to DOJ
“In addition to these constitutional concerns, we believe that Jack Smith engaged in serious prosecutorial misconduct. Without any sufficient rationale or cause, Jack Smith’s team used a federal grand jury subpoena to obtain the phone records of sitting United States Senators and a Member of the House of Representatives. To the best we can tell, Smith’s team went on this fishing expedition for one simple reason: we are Republicans who support President Trump. And, as noted above, we have no knowledge of any predicate that underlies this invasion of our privacy. To that end, we urge you to immediately refer Jack Smith—and any of his prosecutors who assisted with the issuance of these subpoenas to the nine members of Congress—to the Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility. As you know, the mission of OPR ‘is to ensure that Department attorneys perform their duties in accordance with the highest professional standards, as would be expected of the nation’s principal law enforcement agency.’ From the information we already know, it is clear that Jack Smith’s conduct fell far below these ‘highest professional standards.’”
Jack Smith Must Be Held Accountable to the Fullest Extent for Misconduct, Including Disbarment
“Smith is licensed to practice law in both Tennessee and New York and, in both jurisdictions, the Rules of Professional Conduct strictly prohibit a lawyer from using ‘means that have no substantial purpose other than to embarrass, delay, or burden a third person or knowingly use methods of obtaining evidence that violate the legal rights of such a person.’ It is blatantly clear that, by seeking these phone records without our knowledge and consent and without any known criminal predicate, the Special Counsel has violated this provision of the Rules of Professional Conduct that is intended to prevent precisely the type of conduct that occurred in this matter. Upon completion of OPR’s investigation of Jack Smith, we urge you to promptly refer the findings of your inquiry to both the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility and the relevant New York Attorney Grievance Committee. We firmly believe that, upon examination of OPR’s findings, these state entities should consider all options in holding Smith accountable for this misconduct—including disbarment. The conduct that Jack Smith and his team engaged in harkens back to a dark chapter in American history that we have not seen since the days of J. Edgar Hoover, and we must ensure that we never return to that era again.”
Senators Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and U.S. Representative Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) joined Senator Blackburn in sending the letter.
Click here to read the full letter.
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