Forty-four sitting members of Congress. That's how many lawmakers had their text messages reviewed by Jack Smith's investigative team — and one of them was the 92-year-old Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman who just blew the whistle.
Sen. Chuck Grassley didn't find out through official channels Biden's man was reading his texts. He found out because he demanded the records himself.
Grassley, one of the highest ranking members in the Senate, released the bombshell this week alongside Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, chairman of the Senate Investigations Subcommittee. The two senators obtained Department of Justice records confirming that Smith's team reviewed the contents of text messages belonging to 44 members of Congress during his criminal investigation of President Trump.
"Jack Smith's criminal investigation of President Trump was a runaway train that had no brakes," Grassley and Johnson said in a joint statement, as reported by RedState.
Here's what makes this particularly ugly. In December 2025, Smith swore under oath before Congress that he did not spy on text messages belonging to members of Congress. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky was among the first to flag the contradiction. "December 2025: Jack Smith swore under oath that he didn't spy on text messages belonging to members of Congress. Today: New evidence confirms he spied on dozens," Paul wrote.
Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri put it even more bluntly: "Did Jack Smith mislead Congress? He told the House he didn't access the contents of members of Congress's text messages. But new records show he accessed the contents of 44 members of Congress's text messages."
The list of 44 lawmakers whose texts were vacuumed up includes a bipartisan mix — mostly Republicans, but also Democrats including Sen. Cory Booker, Rep. Adam Smith, Rep. Joshua Gottheimer, and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who was in Congress at the time. This wasn't a surgical investigation into a specific crime. It was a blanket sweep of legislative branch communications conducted by the executive branch.
Grassley has also alleged that Smith's team bypassed the Filter Team review process — the internal safeguard that's supposed to separate privileged material from investigative material. And in a July 8 letter, Grassley accused Smith's team of violating classified document handling procedures. The same Jack Smith who was investigating Trump for mishandling classified documents allegedly couldn't follow those procedures himself.
The oversight initiative looking into all of this goes by the name Arctic Frost, and Grassley has signaled he's not done. He alerted the other 43 affected lawmakers and plans to release additional records with Johnson.
Joe Biden's Attorney General, Merrick Garland, appointed Smith to investigate his political rival, Donald Trump. The investigation was supposed to be narrow and focused. Instead, Smith's team reviewed lawmakers' emails, grabbed their text messages, and then lied to Congress about doing it.
There's a word for swearing under oath that something didn't happen when records prove it did. Whether anyone in Washington has the appetite to use it is a different question entirely.
