Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., filed a bar complaint against former Special Counsel Jack Smith on Wednesday for his “serious misconduct” in running the Biden-era Arctic Frost lawfare against Donald Trump and other Republicans.
Jack Smith is “a blatantly partisan actor and his prosecutorial misconduct damaged our constitutional order. He should never be able to practice law again,” Hagerty wrote in an X post announcing his filing.
The complaint filed with the Tennessee Supreme Court’s Board of Professional Responsibility takes aim at Smith’s use of subpoenas to obtain the phone toll records of Hagerty and other Republican members of Congress. Not only did Smith and his team seek and obtain non-disclosure orders to prevent the phone companies from notifying the GOP officials that their records were being subpoenaed, but they also reportedly did not disclose to the court approving the NDOs that the subpoenas targeted members of Congress.
Hagerty alleged that Smith’s “lack of candor was a violation of federal law, and an invasion of the very constitutional privileges that ensure a fully free legislative process.” He more specifically contended that a senator’s “communications with other members of Congress ‘and staff about legislation, votes, committee assignments, and caucus affairs’ are ‘squarely “legislative acts”‘” that the First Amendment’s speech or debate clause “absolutely protects from compelled disclosure.”
Nowhere in D.C. District Chief Judge James Boasberg‘s non-disclosure order was there “mention [of] the Speech or Debate Clause … or that the records sought pertained to members of Congress,” Hagerty wrote. “How could that be, given the body of case law substantiating an argument that these very records were subject to legislative privilege? Because Smith’s motion omitted the facts and law that would lead the judge to realize what he was ruling on.”
“The defects in Smith’s motion are only heightened by the fact that the order was apparently also written by Smith, and rubber-stamped by the judge,” he added.
The Tennessee senator went on to claim that Smith’s “unethical” antics violated the Tennessee Bar’s Rule of Professional Conduct. For this “lack of candor,” Hagerty said, the former special counsel must be investigated and potentially disbarred.
“The [Tennessee Supreme Court’s] Board of [Professional Responsibility] should investigate and pursue the most serious remedy possible — disbarment — in light of the gravity of Smith’s intentional conduct; the effect of totally depriving members of Congress of legal recourse and appeal; the broader harm to our constitutional order; including the chilling effect of legislative communications; and his lack of remorse,” the complaint reads.
The complaint was filed a day after Smith testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, during which he defended his lawfare against Trump and other Republicans. The more notable bombshell to come out of the hearing came when Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, revealed that Smith and his team acquired the communications of more than dozen media outlets — including The Federalist — as part of their Arctic Frost lawfare.
