Former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into President Donald Trump swept up text messages from nearly 50 members of Congress, bypassing a required review process in what one victim alleged is a direct Constitutional violation.Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said the situation is more proof Smith’s probe was a "runaway train" of abuses of power, as the elder statesman and Senate Investigations Subcommittee chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., jointly released their filings Tuesday evening.Grassley and Johnson’s findings come amid a full-scale probe of Operation Arctic Frost – the codename for Smith’s endeavor to investigate Trump for alleged corruption and election malfeasance – an operation top Senate Republicans call "worse than Watergate."LEGAL WAR ON TRUMP’S AGENDA GAINS FIREPOWER AS FEDERAL LAWYERS DEFECT TO DEMOCRATSJack Smith, former US special counsel, arrives for a closed-door deposition before the House Judiciary Committee in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, Dec.17, 2025.
Smith was subpoenaed to testify about his sweeping investigations into President Donald Trump's actions, as part of an ongoing investigation the panel is conducting into the probes he led.(Getty Images)Forty-four members of Congress had the contents of their text messages obtained and reviewed by the Smith's team, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden in a way that bypassed protocol.
A "filter team" was tasked with reviewing millions of documents in the case and should have had first crack at determining whether such messages were relevant or potentially violated statute or ethics.Rep.Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., one of the lawmakers whose texts were swept up in this way, said Tuesday such texts being reviewed amounted to clear violations of the Constitution’s Speech & Debate Clause – which protects lawmakers from being questioned in "any other place" than the Capitol for legislative acts.Internal communications have been h...