Former Special Counsel Jack Smith obtained communications from The Federalist, along with more than a dozen other media outlets, during his anti-Trump lawfare, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, revealed Tuesday during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.
The Federalist was among more than a dozen media organizations whose communications appeared in records that the National Archives turned over after Smith’s office subpoenaed text messages from 87 phones used by officials in Trump’s first term. Smith’s witch hunt, known as “Arctic Frost,” was an unconstitutional effort to get Trump that resulted in Smith’s team spying on members of Congress and apparently members of the media.
The Federalist’s Margot Cleveland explained that Arctic Frost was designed to “target Republicans in key battleground states.” During this sham investigation, Smith also secretly obtained the phone records of several sitting senators.
As part of those spying efforts, Smith also “targeted hundreds of Republican groups and individuals” and “subpoenaed communications those folks had with the media and legislative branch,” Grassley said on Tuesday.
“What I can say today is that Smith also obtained communications from members of the media, to include: 60 Minutes, Associated Press, Bloomberg, CBS, CNBC, CNN, Fox News, LA Times, Mark Levin Show, Media Research Center, NBC, NPR, NY Magazine, Reuters, The Federalist, The Washington Post, Washington Times and the Wall Street Journal,” Grassley revealed.
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Grassley said Smith subpoenaed “87 Trump White House phones, knowing they’d include communications with Members of Congress.” Grassley accused Smith of failing to “filter out Speech or Debate privileged information, even though he and his team knew they’d scoop it up with their requests.”
The Constitution’s Speech or Debate clause prohibits a member of Congress’ legislative work from being targeted by the executive branch. Grassley accused Smith and his team of failing to take those concerns and risks seriously and, instead, dismissed them.
Grassley said that Smith’s staff were “aware of Speech or Debate concerns and targeting congressional toll records” and in some messages discussed “how they can circumvent the statutory barriers Congress put in place to obtain congressional toll records.” Notably, one set of messages obtained by Grassley show Smith’s deputy, J.P. Cooney, saying he was an “advocate for repealing the clause.”
The Federalist CEO and co-founder Sean Davis said in a statement that “We are still working to determine which of our reporters were targeted by Jack Smith and which journalistic communications he and his thugs seized.”
“The Federalist’s team of investigative reporters exposed the Russian collusion hoax. We exposed the Kavanaugh hoax. We exposed the Ukraine impeachment hoax. And The Federalist’s Editor-in-Chief Mollie Hemingway wrote the definitive account of how Democrats seized control of election infrastructure and destroyed the integrity of American elections in 2020,” Davis said.
“For over a decade, The Federalist has fearlessly exposed Deep State corruption and DOJ lies and lawfare. Spying on us was apparently part of Jack Smith’s plot to get revenge against us,” he continued.
Davis says The Federalist “will explore all legal options going forward to deal with Jack Smith’s lawless and un-American attempts to silence us by spying on us.”
Grassley also revealed that while Smith claimed to be focused on January 6, 2021, his team subpoenaed records dating back years, including “information on Republican groups as early as 2019 and as late as 2023.”
“You see, that’s why you must do if your case is designed to map out and target the entire Republican Party,” Grassley said.
As Grassley closed his remarks, he observed that “In the end, Smith indicted one person — President Trump — but successfully mapped out the Republican apparatus” — including members of the media.
