Whitehouse says the first Trump administration's Justice Department also "obtained toll records of members of Congress"
U.S. senator from Rhode Island and member of the Senate Judiciary Committee; former U.S. attorney
“reflects a lack of familiarity with standard Department of Justice procedures. ... Because before you obtained toll records of members of Congress, the Department of Justice under President Trump, in his first administration, obtained toll records of members of Congress.”
Source and context
Original video
About this source
Senate Judiciary Committee's archived video of the September 29, 2026 hearing. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) compared Smith's toll-record subpoenas and nondisclosure orders with those of the Justice Department in the first Trump administration.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
Whitehouse opened his time by saying he had served four years as a United States attorney and had worked on public corruption investigations.
After the quotation
Whitehouse asked Smith to explain the difference between a wiretap and a toll record. Smith said toll records show who a call was from, who it was to and its duration, not its content, and agreed that his office had subpoenaed Republicans' toll records where the earlier investigation had subpoenaed Democrats'.
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' phone records and messages was proper. Whitehouse said some of what had taken place at the hearing reflected unfamiliarity with standard Justice Department procedures and compared the collection with the first Trump administration's own acquisition of members' toll records. That defends the collection as ordinary practice, so we labeled it Defended or excused.
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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