Patel says prior leadership "subpoenaed eight sitting United States senators" and put the records "in a lockbox"
Kash PatelDirector of the FBI, in an interview on Fox News
FBI Director Kash Patel answers a question about Jack Smith and the phone records of Republican senators on Fox News's "Hannity," Oct. 7, 2025.
Excerpt from 2:49 to 4:41 of the Fox News video. DI added its logo in the corner.
Video: Fox News. Excerpt used for news reporting and commentary
Watch the full original video (opens in a new tab) (relevant passage: FBI Director Kash Patel's answer to Sean Hannity's question about Jack Smith and senators' phone records, about 2:49 to 4:40 of the video)
In a Fox News interview with Sean Hannity, FBI Director Kash Patel said that prior Justice Department and FBI leadership subpoenaed eight sitting senators, put the information in a lockbox, put the lockbox in a vault and put the vault in a place where no one could see or search the files. He said the FBI found the information to expose the politicization by Jack Smith and the prior Justice Department. Earlier in the interview he said FBI agents do their job when they are not forced to politicize law enforcement, lie to federal courts, get secret search warrants and spy on members of Congress.
“you don't force them to politicize law enforcement and lie to federal courts to attack your political opponents and get secret search warrants and go spy on members of Congress ... They took this information where they subpoenaed eight sitting United States senators, put it in a lockbox, put that lockbox in a vault, and then put that vault in a cyber place where no one can see or search these files. ... We found this information to expose the politicization by Jack Smith and the prior Department of Justice.”
Interview
Original text
Original text
Official statement
Interview
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
Interview
About this source
Fox News video of FBI Director Kash Patel's interview with host Sean Hannity, posted October 7, 2025. Patel answered a question about the FBI's handling of records on eight senators.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Watch the clip from this source at the top of the page.
Original text
About this source
Letter from Smith's attorneys responding to Grassley and other senators about the grand jury subpoena for toll records of eight senators and one House member. It also answers statements by FBI Director Kash Patel.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Original text
About this source
A redacted FBI Washington Field Office document that Grassley released on October 6, 2025. It says an FBI special agent conducted preliminary toll analysis of limited toll records for nine named members of Congress.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Official statement
About this source
The committee majority's release of Grassley's prepared opening statement at the March 24, 2026 subcommittee hearing, describing records dated January 2023 that name 14 members of Congress.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Interview
About this source
Fox News video of Patel's interview with Sean Hannity. Early in the interview, answering a question about FBI results, Patel said agents do their job when they are not forced to politicize law enforcement, lie to federal courts, get secret search warrants and spy on members of Congress.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)FBI Director Kash Patel answers a question about FBI crime-fighting results on Fox News's "Hannity," Oct. 7, 2025.
Excerpt from 0:20 to 1:19 of the Fox News video. DI added its logo in the corner.
Video: Fox News. Excerpt used for news reporting and commentary
Watch the full original video (opens in a new tab) (relevant passage: FBI Director Kash Patel's answer to Sean Hannity's question about FBI results, about 0:58 to 1:07 of the video)
Before the quotation
The first remark came as Patel answered Hannity's question about FBI results; the second answered Hannity's question about Jack Smith and senators' phone records. The interview aired the day after Grassley released an FBI document dated September 27, 2023 that lists preliminary toll analysis of limited toll records for nine members of Congress. Hannity asked Patel about the agents involved, and Patel said he had fired the agents and "blew up" the public corruption squad at the Washington Field Office.
After the quotation
Patel said accountability was coming and that the FBI was just warming up. Smith's attorneys wrote Grassley on October 21, 2025 that there was no support for Patel's assertion that Smith hid the toll-record information, and that the subpoena was "entirely proper, lawful, and consistent with established Department of Justice policy." On March 24, 2026 Grassley released two Smith subpoenas for Patel's own toll records, with the nondisclosure orders that kept them secret.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Patel described the records of eight sitting senators as gathered and then hidden by prior leadership, and said the FBI found them "to expose the politicization by Jack Smith and the prior Department of Justice." He also said agents should not be forced to "go spy on members of Congress." That criticizes the collection as improper and politicized, so we labeled it Condemned.
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- People and groups discussed
- Jack Smith
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- Patel says prior leadership "subpoenaed eight sitting United States senators" and put the records "in a lockbox"
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The Dispute Index. "Patel says prior leadership "subpoenaed eight sitting United States senators" and put the records "in a lockbox"". First published: 2026-09-29. Last updated: 2026-09-29. https://disputeindex.com/events/3317-in-a-fox-news-interview-with-sean-hannity