Republicans Demand Investigation Into Jack Smith for Alleged Misconduct

Special Counsel Jack Smith — long portrayed by the Biden administration as an impartial prosecutor — is now facing mounting scrutiny and possible disbarment after a group of Republican lawmakers accused him of abusing his authority during his investigation into President Donald J. Trump.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) led the charge Friday, sending a formal referral to Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Department of Justice’s Office of Professional Responsibility, urging a full investigation into Smith’s conduct. The letter, co-signed by several GOP senators and Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.), also calls for disciplinary reviews by the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility and the New York Attorney Grievance Committee, where Smith holds his law licenses.

“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,” the lawmakers wrote. “We have yet to learn of any legal predicate for the Biden Department of Justice issuing subpoenas to obtain these cell phone records.”

According to The New York Post, the lawmakers’ referral follows reports that Smith’s office secretly monitored communications of Republican members of Congress through a toll analysis — a method that collects call metadata and location data without directly accessing content. None of the lawmakers were informed or consented to having their private information seized.

Joining Blackburn were Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), along with Rep. Kelly. Collectively, they accuse Smith of trampling on the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause — a critical safeguard for legislative independence — and engaging in a politically motivated “fishing expedition” to intimidate elected officials.

“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 the completely corrupt investigation and prosecution by the FBI and DOJ of the late Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska,” the letter states. “We must ensure that we never return to these disgraceful eras.”

The controversy is tied to an FBI initiative known as Operation Arctic Frost, launched in April 2022, which reportedly collected phone data later used in Smith’s election interference case against President Trump. That case produced the 2023 indictment — now seen by many conservatives as the centerpiece of the Biden administration’s political lawfare against its top rival.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) likened the surveillance of lawmakers to “an abuse arguably worse than Watergate,” saying it exposes “a systemic rot in the Justice Department that Congress must address.”

Smith’s aggressive tactics, once celebrated by corporate media, are now under a microscope. If found to have violated ethics rules or constitutional limits, he could face sanctions or lose his license to practice law.

For congressional Republicans, the issue extends beyond one prosecutor. They argue it’s a defining moment for restoring checks and balances in Washington — and ensuring no unelected bureaucrat can weaponize federal power for partisan ends.