WASHINGTON — A Texas Republican congressman tore into former special counsel Jack Smith during a Wednesday hearing after learning that his phone records were among more than a dozen seized amid the Trump prosecutor’s probe of 2020 election interference.
Smith maintained over the course of the more than five-hour House Judiciary Committee hearing that he pursued his investigation without “partisan loyalties” or “regrets” about the first prosecution of a former US president.
Follow The Post’s live coverage of President Trump and national politics for the latest news and analysis
Few new details emerged from the ex-special counsel’s testimony, but the venue provided an opportunity for Judiciary Republicans to interrogate Smith about his decision to obtain sitting lawmakers’ phone metadata without their knowledge.
“Did you target my records and subpoena my phone?” Rep. Chip Roy fumed at Smith, brandishing a poster board behind him of at least 14 Republicans who also had their call logs subpoenaed.
“My understanding is your records were subpoenaed by prosecutors before I became special counsel,” Smith responded to Roy, while elsewhere in his testimony acknowledging that others, including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), were targeted.
“I learned for the first time a few weeks ago that my phone records were indeed targeted,” Roy revealed, displaying an internal government email on a TV in the hearing room.
“We called AT&T, and we’ve learned they were given to the Department of Justice, as this email indicates, because I’ve been in communication with [Rep.] Scott Perry [R-Pa.],” he noted, referencing one of the 14 lawmakers whom The Post previously reported had also been secretly surveilled by the FBI.
The FBI’s Arctic Frost probe began the process of looking into the Republicans more than a year after the Capitol riot — but Smith’s team took over and sought more phone records in May 2023.
Smith said in his testimony that the records were for calls between Jan. 4 and 7 of 2021 to see who Trump’s then-personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani had contacted Republicans “to try to further delay” the certification of Joe Biden’s victory.
“We had evidence that the president had directed Rudy Giuliani, one of his co-conspirators, to contact members of Congress to try to further delay the proceedings and exploit the violence that happened in the Capitol,” Smith added.
At least four ex-cops who defended the Capitol amid the January 2021 riot confronted GOPers at Thursday’s hearing — including former Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone who forced a cough to mutter under his breath “go f–k yourself” at Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas).
Roy erupted that his records were sought in May 2022 and he “couldn’t object because I didn’t know — I didn’t know until about three weeks ago.”
Smith told lawmakers the subpoenas were “consistent with department policy,” but acknowledged at other points in his testimony that the “policy has since changed.”
Democrats rejected their GOP colleagues’ claims that the subpoenas were unlawful, with Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) blaming the Senate for not taking up bills authored in the Judiciary Committee to “limit” the power in the past.
The debate took place on the same day that the House voted unanimously to block the US senators from being able to sue the Department of Justice from doing so in the future for up to $500,000.
Judiciary panel members also debated in the hearing why the National Guard wasn’t deployed quickly to stop the riot, alleged political pressure from the Biden administration to prosecute Trump and other unusual prosecutorial steps taken by Smith.
He couldn’t “recall” who administered his oath of office — with his appointment later being ruled unlawful by a federal judge — and he defended gag orders against Trump even amid the 2024 campaign.
The former Trump prosecutor also noted at least twice that his 2020 election interference indictment against the sitting president could be refiled in the future since it was dismissed by a judge without prejudice.
The president fired back on his Truth Social “there is no question that Deranged Jack Smith should be prosecuted for his actions” following the testimony in the Judiciary Committee.
“He destroyed the lives of many innocent people, which has been his history as a prosecutor,” Trump said, before adding: “At a minimum, he committed large scale perjury!”
In the hearing, Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) and others drew attention to the Supreme Court’s overturning of bribery charges brought by Smith against former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Republican.
Judiciary Democrats requested at the close of the hearing for the former special counsel to be brought back for testimony about his other indictment involving the alleged retention of classified documents at the president’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
The former special counsel’s subpoenas — which Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has likened to a “fishing expedition” — were hidden because Smith filed them under a non-disclosure order.
Grassley first obtained files from whistleblowers in October — revealing the investigative steps that became “the vehicle by which FBI agents and DOJ prosecutors could improperly investigate the entire Republican political apparatus.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Iowa), one of the more than dozen lawmakers targeted, has dubbed the disclosures “Joe Biden’s Watergate” and called for the impeachment of judges who signed off on the orders keeping them under wraps.
On Thursday, several House Republicans accused Smith of violating the Constitution’s Speech and Debate clause by seeking the information, which would have included other phones contacted by the lawmakers.
Many of the subpoenas sought contact information between Jan. 4 and 7 of 2021, the days immediately before and after the Capitol was breached by a mob of Trump’s supporters, halting the 2020 election’s certification.
“Was there any limits to your investigation or the investigation that preceded you, Mr. Smith?” asked Roy during his line of questioning.
“Because as egregious as a violation of separation of powers this is, as egregious as an abuse of power it is,” the Texas rep added. “It’s far more concerning you were clearly targeting American citizens for merely being conservative or supporting the president.”
Judiciary chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) didn’t immediately object to the notion of holding a second hearing with Smith, while highlighting in other rounds of questioning how his team had uncovered evidence the special counsel paid $20,000 to a confidential informant.
