Durbin says the toll-record subpoenas used a "legal procedure" "regularly deployed by federal prosecutors"
Dick DurbinU.S. senator from Illinois and ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee
Sen. Dick Durbin's opening remarks at the Senate Judiciary Committee's Feb. 10, 2026 hearing on phone carriers' responses to Jack Smith's subpoenas.
Excerpt from 20:30 to 24:02 of the committee's archived hearing video. DI added its logo in the corner.
Video: U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Public domain (U.S. government work) (opens in a new tab)
Watch the full original video (opens in a new tab) (relevant passage: Sen. Dick Durbin's opening remarks, about 0:20:33 to 0:24:00 on the archived video timeline)
At a February 10, 2026 Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing with telephone company executives, Sen. Dick Durbin said the hearing concerned a legal procedure, created by Congress and regularly deployed by federal prosecutors, to collect the toll records of people Donald Trump contacted in his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and that it was not surprising Smith subpoenaed the call records of those Trump tried to enlist. He said Smith, not the phone companies, should be the witness.
“For reasons that aren't clear to me at all, we're here today to discuss Jack Smith's role in a legal procedure, a procedure created by Congress and regularly deployed by federal prosecutors to collect the toll records of people President Trump contacted in his efforts to overturn the election of 2020. ... Special Counsel Jack Smith investigated this criminal effort by President Trump to overturn the election. So it's not surprising that Mr. Smith subpoenaed the call records of those the President tried to enlist in his conspiracy. To the extent the committee has questions about this, it should be former Special Counsel Smith testifying as a witness today before this committee, not three telecom companies who responded to legally issued subpoenas.”
Original video
Official statement
Official statement
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 video
About this source
Senate Judiciary Committee's archived video of the February 10, 2026 subcommittee hearing with representatives of AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon and two former prosecutors. Durbin, the committee's ranking member, spoke before Chairman Grassley.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Watch the clip from this source at the top of the page.
Official statement
About this source
The committee Democrats' release of excerpts from Durbin's opening statement at the February 10, 2026 subcommittee hearing. The wording of his delivered remarks differs slightly from the excerpts.
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 February 10, 2026 subcommittee hearing, including his count of subpoenas to Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
Durbin spoke at the first of the Republican-led committee's Arctic Frost hearings, held by the Privacy, Technology, and the Law Subcommittee with witnesses from AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon. Smith was not a witness. Durbin said he had written to Chairman Grassley asking that Smith testify under oath in public.
After the quotation
Durbin then quoted Smith's House testimony about the subpoenas for Republican senators' call records: "I did not choose those members. President Trump did." Grassley, in his opening remarks, said Smith's team obtained non-disclosure orders so members could not intervene.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Durbin described the toll-record subpoenas as a routine legal procedure used against people Trump tried to enlist, not as improper conduct. That defends the collection as proper, so we labeled it Defended or excused.
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- Durbin says the toll-record subpoenas used a "legal procedure" "regularly deployed by federal prosecutors"
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The Dispute Index. "Durbin says the toll-record subpoenas used a "legal procedure" "regularly deployed by federal prosecutors"". First published: 2026-09-29. Last updated: 2026-09-29. https://disputeindex.com/events/3320-at-a-february-10-2026-senate-judiciary-subcommittee