House Judiciary Republican staff report says investigators "unconstitutionally subpoenaed phone records for over a dozen Republican Members of Congress"
House Committee on the JudiciaryInterim staff report by Republican staff of the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH)
The interim report by Republican staff of the House Judiciary Committee, released September 23, 2026 under Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH), said investigators in Arctic Frost and the special counsel investigation unconstitutionally subpoenaed phone records for over a dozen Republican members and obtained gag orders to keep the members from knowing, and that this violated the Speech or Debate Clause. It says the Justice Department seized the phone records of at least 17 Republican members between April 2022 and May 2023.
Responding to
The interim report by Republican staff of the House Judiciary Committee said that subpoenas for the phone records of over a dozen Republican members of Congress were unconstitutional, that they violated the Speech or Debate Clause, and that gag orders kept the members from challenging them.
“investigators unconstitutionally subpoenaed phone records for over a dozen Republican Members of Congress and obtained gag orders to prevent the Members from knowing that the Biden-Harris Administration had obtained these records. ... In doing so, the Biden-Harris Administration violated the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause, a core provision that protects the official actions and communications of Members of Congress and immunizes them from prosecution for legislative acts.”
Original text
Where this statement fits
Were members of Congress's phone records and text messages properly obtained in the Arctic Frost and Jack Smith investigations?
On September 29, 2026, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing titled "Oversight of Jack Smith's Abuse of Authority and the Targeting of Republicans and Related Matters," with former special counsel Jack Smith as its only witness. Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and other Republicans said that Smith's team, in the FBI's Arctic Frost investigation and its own election case, obtained members of Congress's phone toll records and text messages, used nondisclosure orders to keep members from learning of it, and breached the Speech or Debate Clause. Smith said the toll records were non-content records obtained after he directed his staff to consult the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section, and that the nondisclosure orders were consistent with the law and Justice Department policy at the time. Ranking Member Dick Durbin (D-IL) called the attacks on Smith "petty, personal, and political." The sides and the documents give different counts of the members affected. The dispute is whether the collection of members' phone records and messages was proper.
Source and context
Original text
About this source
The House Judiciary Committee's interim staff report, released under Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH). It argues that toll-record subpoenas and nondisclosure orders in Arctic Frost and Smith's investigation were unconstitutional and quotes from prosecutors' interviews, Smith's deposition and hearing testimony, and Justice Department emails.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
The report came six days before the Senate hearing. It says the committee sent 66 letters and subpoenas, received over 38,883 pages of documents and conducted six transcribed interviews and three depositions of the federal prosecutors involved.
After the quotation
The report says the Public Integrity Section flagged "litigation risk" but approved the toll-record subpoenas, that Smith's team told Attorney General Merrick Garland in a January 2023 briefing that members likely have a valid Speech or Debate privilege against compelled testimony, and that Smith approved a list of May 2023 toll-record subpoenas one day after his deputies drew it up.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
The report, written by the committee's Republican staff, calls the subpoenas unconstitutional, says they violated the Speech or Debate Clause and says the gag orders kept members from knowing about them. That rejects the collection as improper, so we labeled it Condemned.
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More from this case
Read the full caseGrassley calls Smith's actions unlawful and unconstitutional
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Harker argues for personal accountability in Blackburn's suit
“She filed it against Jack Smith in his personal capacity to seek accountability, not money”Read statement
Chenoweth condemns alleged concealment supporting the records order
“I think that it's intolerable behavior”Read statement
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The Dispute Index. "House Judiciary Republican staff report says investigators "unconstitutionally subpoenaed phone records for over a dozen Republican Members of Congress"". First published: 2026-09-29. Last updated: 2026-09-29. https://disputeindex.com/events/3316-the-interim-report-by-republican-staff-of-the