Blackburn says "Five members of this committee" had their "phone records subpoenaed by Jack Smith"

Marsha BlackburnU.S. senator from Tennessee and chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law, one of the senators she said had phone records subpoenaed

Condemned

Sen. Marsha Blackburn's opening remarks at the Senate Judiciary Committee's Feb. 10, 2026 hearing on phone carriers' responses to Jack Smith's subpoenas.

Excerpt from 16:23 to 20:16 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. Marsha Blackburn's opening remarks, about 0:16:26 to 0:20:14 on the archived video timeline)

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At the opening of a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing on February 10, 2026, Sen. Marsha Blackburn said that five members of the Judiciary Committee, Senators Lindsey Graham, Mike Lee, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley and herself, and several other senators and House members had their phone records subpoenaed by Smith. She said the nondisclosure orders signed by Judge James Boasberg had no basis in fact, and that Smith's team consulted the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section and concluded the subpoenas could go ahead despite litigation risk under the Speech or Debate Clause because members would never find out. She called the matter "the worst weaponization of government in American history."

“Five members of this committee, Senators Graham, Lee, Cruz, Hawley, and I, had our phone records subpoenaed by Jack Smith, in addition to several other senators and members of the House. ... He also made sure that we didn't find out about this deep invasion of our privacy, ensuring that an Obama appointee, Judge James Boasberg, signed non-disclosure orders that were attached to the subpoenas and had no basis in fact. ... concluded essentially that while there was some litigation risk related to the Speech and Debate Clause, they could go ahead with the subpoenas regardless because the affected members of Congress would never find out about this invasion of privacy and violation of constitutional rights. ... This was the worst weaponization of government in American history”

Original video

Watch the original video (opens in a new tab)Arctic Frost Accountability: Oversight of Telecommunications Carriers' Responses to Jack Smith's Witch Hunt (hearing video) · Senate Committee on the JudiciarySen. Marsha Blackburn's opening remarks, about 0:16:26 to 0:20:14 on the archived video timeline

Official statement

Read the official statement (opens in a new tab)VIDEO: Blackburn Presses Phone Company Executives on Complicity in Jack Smith's Witch Hunt Against Conservatives · Marsha BlackburnFirst excerpt section, "Blackburn Calls Arctic Frost 'Worst Weaponization of Government in American History'"

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Other statements by Marsha Blackburn in this case

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The Hart Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., photographed from across a street on a clear day.
Credit: Architect of the Capitol

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.

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Source and context

Original video

Arctic Frost Accountability: Oversight of Telecommunications Carriers' Responses to Jack Smith's Witch Hunt (hearing video) (opens in a new tab) · Senate Committee on the JudiciarySen. Marsha Blackburn's opening remarks, about 0:16:26 to 0:20:14 on the archived video timeline

About this source

Senate Judiciary Committee's archived video of the February 10, 2026 subcommittee hearing. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, who chaired the subcommittee, said five members of the Judiciary Committee had their phone records subpoenaed and criticized the nondisclosure orders.

Archived copy (opens in a new tab)

Watch the clip from this source at the top of the page.

Official statement

VIDEO: Blackburn Presses Phone Company Executives on Complicity in Jack Smith's Witch Hunt Against Conservatives (opens in a new tab) · Marsha BlackburnFirst excerpt section, "Blackburn Calls Arctic Frost 'Worst Weaponization of Government in American History'"

About this source

Sen. Marsha Blackburn's office released abridged excerpts of her opening remarks at the February 10, 2026 Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing on Arctic Frost. The excerpts leave out some passages with ellipses, so the hearing video is the full record of her words.

Archived copy (opens in a new tab)

Before the quotation

Blackburn, who chairs the subcommittee, opened a hearing that she said was the first in a series examining Arctic Frost, with testimony from executives of AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon about how their companies responded to Smith's subpoenas.

After the quotation

After Blackburn's opening remarks, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) gave his own opening statement, and Blackburn then questioned the carriers' executives, including Verizon's Chris Miller, about their handling of members' records.

How this statement is classified

Condemned

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. Blackburn said the subpoenas covered committee members' phone records, that the nondisclosure orders had no basis in fact, and that the team went ahead despite Speech or Debate risk because members would not find out. That rejects the collection as improper, so we labeled it Condemned.

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Blackburn says "Five members of this committee" had their "phone records subpoenaed by Jack Smith"
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The Dispute Index. "Blackburn says "Five members of this committee" had their "phone records subpoenaed by Jack Smith"". First published: 2026-09-29. Last updated: 2026-09-29. https://disputeindex.com/events/3351-at-the-opening-of-a-senate-judiciary-subcommittee