The Biden Administration tried to bury evidence of one of the most shocking abuses of power in modern history.
But they couldn't keep it hidden forever.
And a secret document exposed this brazen crime committed by Jack Smith.
Biden DOJ Knew Subpoenas Violated Constitutional Rights
Senator Chuck Grassley dropped a bombshell last week when he released internal Biden Administration emails showing Special Counsel Jack Smith and the Department of Justice knowingly violated congressional Republicans' constitutional rights.
A May 17, 2023 email from the DOJ's Public Integrity Section to Smith's team revealed the Biden Administration gave Smith the green light to subpoena phone records of nearly a dozen Republican members of Congress — even after acknowledging the subpoenas were unconstitutional.¹
Principal Deputy Chief John Keller wrote that "there is some litigation risk regarding whether compelled disclosure of toll records of a Member's legislative calls violates the Speech or Debate Clause in the D.C. Circuit."²
That email cited controlling precedent establishing "the bar on compelled disclosure is absolute."³
The Biden DOJ admitted Smith's subpoenas violated the Constitution — and approved them anyway.
The Public Integrity Section justified this by claiming "low likelihood that any of the Members listed below would be charged," meaning the "litigation risk should be minimal."⁴
They knew it was illegal, but figured they'd get away with it.
Smith's team subpoenaed phone records from Senators Lindsey Graham, Bill Hagerty, Josh Hawley, Dan Sullivan, Tommy Tuberville, Ron Johnson, Cynthia Lummis, Marsha Blackburn, and Representative Mike Kelly for calls made between January 4-7, 2021.⁵
Judge Boasberg Approved Illegal Gag Orders
The scandal gets even worse.
Smith didn't just violate senators' constitutional rights by subpoenaing their phone records.
He also got Obama-appointed Judge James Boasberg to approve nondisclosure orders that prevented telecommunication companies from alerting the members of Congress their records had been seized.⁶
Under the Stored Communications Act, courts can only issue nondisclosure orders if there's "reason to believe" that notifying someone would result in endangering life, flight from prosecution, destruction of evidence, intimidation of witnesses, or seriously jeopardizing an investigation.⁷
But Smith's team believed it unlikely any of these congressional Republicans would face charges.
How could Boasberg find "reasonable grounds" that notifying these senators would result in destroyed evidence when Smith's office didn't even think they'd be prosecuted?
Documents show Smith's team wanted the phone records to corroborate calls Rudy Giuliani made to members of Congress and to "understand who else may have called these Members."⁸
That has nothing to do with obstruction concerns — and everything to do with violating the Speech or Debate Clause.
The nondisclosure orders were illegal on their face.
Verizon complied with Smith's unconstitutional subpoenas, handing over senators' phone records without notifying them.
AT&T, to its credit, pushed back and questioned the legal basis for seeking records of members of Congress — and Smith's office backed down without pursuing it further.⁹
Republicans Demand Accountability
Senate Republicans are furious and demanding accountability.
Senator Lindsey Graham called the surveillance "worthy of a Watergate-style investigation" and demanded the formation of a Senate Select Committee to investigate Smith's "constitutional abuse."¹⁰
Senator Ted Cruz called for Judge Boasberg's impeachment, saying the judge "put his robe down, stood up and said, 'Sign me up to be part of the partisan vendetta against 20% of Republicans in the Senate.'"¹¹
Representative Brandon Gill filed articles of impeachment against Boasberg, accusing him of abuse of power for approving "frivolous nondisclosure orders" that violated federal law requiring carriers to notify Senate offices of legal process seeking their data.¹²
An ethics complaint filed by the Center to Advance Security in America blasted Boasberg for enabling "what may be one of the biggest scandals in the history of the country."¹³
Smith personally approved these unconstitutional subpoenas on May 17, 2023.
Prosecutor Raymond Hulser emailed Smith stating they "intend to subpoena toll records" for the Republican senators and representative.
Smith replied asking Hulser to "stop by" his office.
After that meeting, Hulser added two citations — and Smith approved them.¹⁴
The Speech or Debate Clause exists precisely to prevent presidents and executive branch officials from weaponizing law enforcement against members of Congress for political reasons.
It protects legislators from being "questioned in any other Place" for legislative activities, ensuring separation of powers and preventing executive intimidation of the legislative branch.¹⁵
Smith and the Biden DOJ didn't just bend the rules — they knowingly shattered them.
They admitted the subpoenas violated constitutional protections, calculated the political risk, and decided to do it anyway because they figured these senators wouldn't be charged.
That's not law enforcement.
That's political persecution, pure and simple — and it happened with full knowledge and approval from the highest levels of the Biden Administration's Department of Justice.
¹ Margot Cleveland, "New Docs Reveal Jack Smith Intentionally Violated Congressional Republicans' Constitutional Rights," The Federalist, December 1, 2025.
² Ibid.
³ Ibid.
⁴ Ibid.
⁵ Katelynn Richardson, "Jack Smith's Team Knew They Might Get Sued for Secretly Seeking Senators' Phone Records," Western Journal, November 30, 2025.
⁶ Cleveland, The Federalist.
⁷ Ibid.
⁸ Ibid.
⁹ Richardson, Western Journal.
¹⁰ "Graham: Watergate-Style Investigation Needed for Jack Smith, Judge Boasberg's Constitutional Abuses," Office of U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, October 2025.
¹¹ Katelynn Richardson, "Obama Judge's Bid To Help Deep State Spy On GOP In Secret May Have Violated Federal Law," Daily Caller, November 3, 2025.
¹² "Judge James Boasberg hit with impeachment articles over role in Trump probe," Fox News, November 2025.
¹³ Katelynn Richardson, "Obama Judge Who Greenlit Secret Subpoenas Targeting GOP Hit With Ethics Complaint," Tipp Insights, November 8, 2025.
¹⁴ Cleveland, The Federalist.
¹⁵ "Overview of Speech or Debate Clause," Constitution Annotated, Congress.gov.
