Gohmert blasts Jack Smith for alleged seizure of lawmakers’ private data in J6 investigation

EXCLUSIVE: Former Rep. Louie Gohmert blasted former special counsel Jack Smith for allegedly targeting his personal phone records as part of his investigation into the January 6, 2021 Capitol riots, telling Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview that his action “destroys the checks and balances that the Founders relied on.”

Fox News Digital exclusively reported Thursday morning that Smith targeted the personal and private phone records of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, as well as those of Gohmert.

JACK SMITH SEARCHED FOR PRESIDENT MCCARTHY’S ​​PRIVATE PHONE RECORDS IN J6 PROBE, FBI DOCUMENTS REVEAL

Fox News Digital exclusively reviewed the document that the FBI director Kash Patel recently shared with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Senator Ron Johnson, containing the explosive revelations. Grassley and Johnson conducted a joint investigation of Smith’s “Arctic Frost” probe.

Former Rep. Louie Gohmert blasted former special counsel Jack Smith for allegedly targeting his personal phone records. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

According to the document, Smith allegedly searched “toll records for the personal cell phones of Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy (AT&T) and U.S. Representative Louie Gohmert (Verizon.) on January 24, 2023.”

The information was included as part of a “Significant Case Notification” issued by the FBI’s Criminal Investigation Division on May 25, 2023.

“It is astounding that Jack ‘Frost’ Smith would embark on this persecution,” Gohmert told Fox News Digital on Thursday. “Apparently this guy has never read the Fourth Amendment because you have to accurately describe what you’re looking for – there should be probable cause, and they didn’t have any. They were on a witch hunt.”

Smith had sought Gohmert’s personal phone records from November 2020 to late January 2021.

“They have no respect for the Fourth Amendment,” he said. “It makes Watergate look like schoolyard madness.”

But Gohmert said that was the “principle.”

Then-special counsel Jack Smith’s case cost taxpayers more than $50 million. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

“It’s the separation of powers that’s the problem,” Gohmert said. “I have been regularly contacted by individuals and whistleblowers within the DOJ and FBI regarding FBI and DOJ overreach. By collecting my records, they could suppress reports of potential crimes by individuals within the agencies.”

JACK SMITH MONITORED PRIVATE COMMUNICATIONS AND CALLS OF NEARLY A DOZEN GOP SENATORS DURING J6 INVESTIGATION, FBI SAYS

“You can’t just seize records from members of Congress, even with a warrant, because of that separation of powers,” Gohmert said. “There has to be a wall and that’s what bothers me more than anything.”

Gohmert told Fox News Digital that he didn’t remember who he spoke to during the time Smith was searching for records, but said “the last thing I want is for someone who trusted me to keep their name private so that some jack-o’-lantern like Jack ‘Frost’ Smith gets my records and figures out who’s tracking him.”

He added: “This violates and destroys the checks and balances that the founders relied on. »

Gohmert, however, told Fox News Digital that he has confidence in the current leadership of the Justice Department and the FBI.

“I trust the DOJ and the people who run the FBI,” he said. “We will see if there have been crimes committed and, if we respect the Constitution, they can be properly prosecuted.”

HAGERTY PRESSES VERIZON ON FBI ACCESS TO HIS PHONE RECORDS DURING JACK SMITH INVESTIGATION

Meanwhile, McCarthy said he would take legal action against Smith.

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said he would take legal action against Jack Smith. (José Luis Magana/Associated Press)

“Jack Smith’s radical and deranged investigation was never about uncovering the truth,” McCarthy told Fox News Digital. “This was a blatant weapon by the Justice Department to attack political opponents of the Biden administration. Perhaps no action underscores this point more than the illegal attempt to access the phone records of sitting members of the House and Senate, including the Speaker of the House.”

“His unlawful targeting demands real accountability,” McCarthy continued. “And I am confident that Congress will hold hearings and access documents as part of its investigation into Jack Smith’s own abuses.”

HAGERTY PRESSES VERIZON ON FBI ACCESS TO HIS PHONE RECORDS DURING JACK SMITH INVESTIGATION

“At the same time, I will have my own attorney pursue all avenues of redress so this doesn’t happen to anyone else,” McCarthy said.

These revelations come after Fox News Digital exclusively reported in October that Smith and his “Arctic Frost” team investigating the January 6, 2021 riots at the Capitol were tracking the private communications and phone calls of nearly a dozen Republican senators as part of the investigation, including Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, Dan Sullivan from Alaska, Tommy. Tuberville of Alabama and GOP Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania.

An official told Fox News Digital that these records were collected in 2023 by Smith and his team after subpoenaing major phone providers.

Smith called his decision to subpoena and track Republican lawmakers’ phone records “entirely correct” and consistent with Ministry of Justice policy.

“As described by various Senators, the collection of toll data was narrowly tailored and limited to the four days of January 4, 2021, through January 7, 2021, with a focus on telephone activity during the period immediately surrounding the January 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol,” Smith’s lawyers wrote to Grassley in October.

Grassley, R-Iowa, and Johnson, R-Wis., investigated the matter.

Senator Chuck Grassley, Republican of Iowa and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Senator Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin, have investigated the matter. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

An FBI official told Fox News Digital that “Arctic Frost” was a “no-go case” and that the review required FBI officials to go “above and beyond in order to deliver on that promise of transparency.” The finding is part of a broader review underway, Fox News Digital has learned.

Smith, after months of investigation, accused the president Donald Trump in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., as part of his 2020 election case, but after Trump was elected president, Smith sought to dismiss the case. Judge Tanya Chutkan granted this request.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The Smith affair cost taxpayers more than $50 million.

Smith did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.