Jack Smith thrust back into spotlight at Blanche hearing over exposed senators’ messages

Former special counsel Jack Smith was thrust back into the spotlight Wednesday during acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s confirmation hearing when Sen. John Kennedy pressed the Justice Department over newly revealed allegations related to the Biden-era special counsel's review of lawmakers' text messages. 

"Would you check for me first if [Smith] read my emails and … No. 2, how he got them. And No. 3 … what emails did he get of Senator Grassley and, I mean … what were they limited to, if at all," Kennedy asked, referring to Smith’s prior investigation into President Donald Trump that allegedly swept up text messages from 44 members of Congress. 

"Did he get emails from Senator Grassley talking about his corn harvest and all that? And who did he share them with? Do you know if Mr. Smith shared my emails with Attorney General Garland."

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Kennedy was referring to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who announced Tuesday that records provided to the committee showed Smith’s team obtained and reviewed text messages involving 44 current and former lawmakers as part of the Trump election probe. Kennedy was not among the list of 44 lawmakers released by Grassley's office. 

Operation Arctic Frost, the Biden-era FBI probe that Grassley says formed the basis of Smith’s election case against Trump, initially examined the alleged scheme following the 2020 election. Grassley and other Republicans have been investigating whether the probe reflected improper weaponization of federal law enforcement against Trump and his allies.

Blanche confirmed to Kennedy that the DOJ is investigating.

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Kennedy asked Blanche how DOJ officials could get ahold of messages without probable cause.

"There are checks in place that should make it extraordinarily difficult for a prosecutor to collect and review a senator's emails or a congressman's emails or a lawyer's emails or other folks that have privileged protections associated with their communications," said Blanche. "Those checks and balances should always be used."

Grassley’s office said in a press release that Smith’s investigative team bypassed an internal filter review process meant to keep privileged materials from being swept into a criminal prosecution.

"Bypassing a Filter Team evades consideration of additional privileges, such as attorney-client privilege," the release said.

The records were provided by the Trump Justice Department in a full-scale probe of Operation Arctic Frost.

Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri also addressed critics, claiming Trump’s DOJ is the "most troubled" Justice Department in history, pointing to weaponization of Biden DOJ's investigation.

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"We lived through Jack Smith, and the chairman has just revealed new revelations, of course, that he was reading text messages," said Schmitt. "By the way, Jack Smith testified under oath he didn't do that. He testified that they just had the phone logs. We know that's not true.

"Now, Jack Smith should be subject to prosecution for lying to Congress. So, this weaponization, let's draw a distinction. When you go after your political opponents, that is a weaponization."