Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said Monday he’s planning a series of hearings investigating former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s Arctic Frost probe.
A group of Senate Republicans is furious that Smith’s Jan. 6 investigation resulted in their phone records being obtained. Grassley is pledging to “find out exactly what went wrong, so that bad actors can be held accountable and this sort of political witch hunt never happens again.”
Grassley said his panel’s subcommittees plan to look into the “telecommunication agencies’ responses to Smith’s subpoena requests for congressional phone records.”
Other oversight topics include whether Smith’s subpoenas caused separation of powers issues, how judges dealt with nondisclosure orders for the subpoenas and how the Biden Justice Department allocated resources to the Arctic Frost probe.
We’ll note that two of the subcommittee chairs leading the investigation — Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) — had their phone records subpoenaed by Smith.
The phone records issue led to a controversy in the government funding package last month when Senate Republicans added a provision allowing the impacted senators to sue the Justice Department. The House attempted to repeal this provision after major outcry.
Last month, Grassley previewed increased oversight of Smith’s investigation.
