Dan Schwager is an attorney at Verdi & Ogletree whose practice includes government investigations and congressional ethics. He previously served as general counsel to the Secretary of the Senate and as chief counsel and staff director of the House Ethics Committee. He earned a bachelor's degree in ethical theory at Bates College in 1993 and a law degree at New York University in 1998. His earlier roles included counsel for the Senate Select Committee on Ethics and prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office.
Role at the time: Attorney and former congressional ethics counsel
Defended or excused
Statement summary
Schwager defends toll-record subpoenas as routine investigative tools and rejects treating a legal disagreement as proof of misconduct. He also calls for serious attention to legislators' Speech or Debate protections.
“regular and thorough investigative steps are not political actions themselves”
Read the original text (opens in a new tab)Statement of Dan Schwager before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law, February 10, 2026Pages 4-5
Why we used this label
He defends the collection methods while recognizing legislators' privilege concerns.
Republicans say Jack Smith's team improperly obtained members of Congress's phone records and texts and used nondisclosure orders to hide it. Smith and Democrats say the toll records were approved and lawful; Smith says the texts came from White House phones. Member counts differ.
