Booker says "they're trying to say this is partisanship" but "My records were swept up"
U.S. senator from New Jersey and member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, listed by the Justice Department among members whose texts with White House personnel were obtained
“And they're trying to say this is partisanship. My records were swept up. My text messages were part of it. Karen Bass's text messages were a part of it.”
Source and context
Original video
About this source
Senate Judiciary Committee's archived video of the September 29, 2026 hearing. Sen. Cory Booker responded to Republican claims that the investigation was partisan and said his own records and text messages were among those obtained.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Original text
About this source
The Justice Department's Office of Legislative Affairs letter answering a May 8, 2026 request from Grassley and Sen. Ron Johnson. It describes the filter team, the National Archives production of White House text messages on August 21, 2023, and lists 44 current and former members whose texts with White House personnel the special counsel's team obtained.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Reporting
About this source
CBS News live coverage of the September 29, 2026 hearing, including Smith's answers to Durbin and Cruz and his testimony that the strongest witnesses in the election case were Republicans.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
Booker was reacting to Smith's testimony that the investigation relied principally on Republican witnesses.
After the quotation
Booker asked Smith what had happened to the career prosecutors and FBI agents who worked on the cases. Smith said they had been fired unlawfully and publicly vilified. The Justice Department's July 2026 letter lists Booker among the 44 current and former members whose texts with White House personnel Smith's team obtained.
How this statement is classified
Case context: Were members of Congress's phone records and text messages properly obtained in the Arctic Frost and Jack Smith investigations?
The label describes this statement’s response within the context above.
Why this label?
The case asks whether the collection of members' records was proper. Booker did not address the Speech or Debate or nondisclosure-order arguments. He disputed the idea that the collection was partisan by saying his own records and text messages, and Karen Bass's, were also included. That challenges a characterization without addressing the collection's legality, so we labeled it Challenged the characterization.
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Were members of Congress's phone records and text messages properly obtained in the Arctic Frost and Jack Smith investigations?
Explore the case context, sources and public responses.
More from this case
Read the full case“for all of the outrage of my colleagues over your requesting toll records because Rudy Giuliani and other co-conspirators were calling some of the members of this body ... the Barr Justice Department sought toll records from members of Congress. Not a peep from my colleagues about that ... That apparently was okay. That apparently doesn't violate speech and debate. ... My colleagues talked about the stress on members of having their toll records requested as witnesses, not even targets.”Read statement
“It's been widely reported that you and your team issued some 44 subpoenas related to the tolling records of at least 20 Republican members of Congress, including at least eight U.S. senators, including at least four members of this committee ... it appears the actual reason for the NDOs was to avoid giving those members the opportunity to challenge the subpoenas pursuant to the protection that they enjoyed under the Constitution's speech and debate clause. ... Your team took actions to directly undermine the separation of powers at the heart of the Constitution.”Read statement
“the Department of Justice's own Public Integrity Section, it did give you explicit warnings that going after the phone records of members of the legislative branch carried what they referred to as litigation risks due to these constitutional privileges. ... you never actually told Chief Judge Boasberg that you were targeting 19 members of a coordinate branch of government, the legislative branch. ... There should be an articulated basis for secrecy when you're asking for a gag order. ... in a way that arguably makes what Richard Nixon did in Watergate look like a Sunday picnic.”Read statement