Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said on Tuesday that Justice Department records revealed that former special counsel Jack Smith’s team obtained text messages sent by 44 members of Congress.
“I received records frm DOJ confirming Jack Smith’s investigative team reviewed the contents of text msgs sent by 44 MEMBERS OF CONGRESS Im 1 of the 44,” Grassley said.
“Im alerting my colleagues who were impacted and will release the records w Sen Johnson so American ppl can see the evidence,” he added.
I received records frm DOJ confirming Jack Smith’s investigative team reviewed the contents of text msgs sent by 44 MEMBERS OF CONGRESS Im 1 of the 44
Im alerting my colleagues who were impacted and will release the records w Sen Johnson so American ppl can see the evidence— Chuck Grassley (@ChuckGrassley) July 14, 2026
According to POLITICO, the text messages were sent from the Congress members to “senior White House officials during the final weeks of President Donald Trump’s first term.”
“Jack Smith’s team swept up private text messages from 44 members of Congress — Republicans and Democrats — while investigating Trump, bypassing the required filter review process designed to protect attorney-client privilege and constitutional protections,” Fox News wrote.
“Senate Judiciary Chairman Grassley and Sen. Ron Johnson say the records, provided by the Trump Justice Department, show Smith’s team circumvented its own protocols. The situation is further complicated by Smith’s prior testimony under oath, in which he answered ‘no’ when asked whether records he requested from congresspeople included text messages,” it continued.
Jack Smith’s team swept up private text messages from 44 members of Congress — Republicans and Democrats — while investigating Trump, bypassing the required filter review process designed to protect attorney-client privilege and constitutional protections.
Senate Judiciary… pic.twitter.com/P6UC7sOHYi
— Fox News Politics (@foxnewspolitics) July 14, 2026
POLITICO shared further:
The latest exchanges were part of a trove of materials that the National Archives turned over to Smith’s team following a subpoena for White House records stretching from Oct. 2020 to Jan. 2021. Smith’s top deputies received the materials in August 2023, just weeks after securing a grand jury indictment against Trump — and, according to internal emails Grassley released Tuesday, indicated they were quickly preparing to share them with Trump’s legal team as part of the pre-trial “discovery” process.”
Grassley’s release of these materials is part of a broader effort by the Iowa Republican and other Trump allies to portray Smith as a reckless or overaggressive prosecutor in his pursuit of criminal cases against Trump during the Biden administration, which many GOP lawmakers believe were politically motivated.
Grassley was already on the warpath for Smith after learning that investigators obtained his call records as part of Smith’s investigation into Trump’s efforts to subvert the 2020 presidential election, which culminated in the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021.
“Jack Smith has answering to do, and I intend to have him before the Senate Judiciary Committee in the coming months to hold him accountable,” said Grassley.
“Newly declassified records reveal Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team unlawfully (in violation of Constitution) accessed text messages to and from the following current and former Senators and House members,” reporter Paul Sperry said.
Sperry provided a list of the 44 Congress members:
BREAKING: Newly declassified records reveal Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team unlawfully (in violation of Constitution) accessed text messages to and from the following current and former Senators and House members:
1. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)
2. Senator Ron Johnson…— Paul Sperry (@paulsperry_) July 14, 2026
Full list below:
1. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)
2. Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.)
3. Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas)
4. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)
5. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.)
6. Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah)
7. Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.)
8. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.)
9. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska)
10. Senator David Perdue (R-Ga.)
11. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.)
12. Senator Martha McSally (R-Ariz.)
13. Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.)
14. Senator Rick Scott (R-Fla.)
15. Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio)
16. Senator Roy Blunt (R-Mo.)
17. Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine)
18. Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.)
19. Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.)
20. Senator Cory Gardner (R-Colo.)
21. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)
22. Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.)
23. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio)
24. Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.)
25. Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.)
26. Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.)
27. Rep. Mark Walker (R-N.C.)
28. Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Wis.)
29. Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.)
30. Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.)
31. Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.)
32. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.)
33. Rep. John Katko (R-N.Y.)
34. Rep. Joshua Gottheimer (D-N.J.)
35. Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.)
36. Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.)
37. Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.)
38. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.)
39. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.)
40. Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.)
41. Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.)
42. Rep. Russ Fulcher (R-Idaho)
43. Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.)
44. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.)
“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 of members of Congress, myself included,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) commented.
“This is a blatant abuse of power, and exactly what our Founders warned about,” he added.
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 of members of Congress, myself included.
This is a blatant abuse of power, and exactly what our Founders warned… pic.twitter.com/3eqwiylLXI
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) July 14, 2026
Fox News has more:
Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., one of the lawmakers whose texts were swept up in this way, said Tuesday such reviews amounted to clear violations of the Constitution’s speech and debate clause that protects lawmakers from being questioned in “any other place” than the Capitol for legislative acts.
Internal communications have been historically included in that clause in the courts as technology has advanced.
Stefanik said in a statement that the new records prove Smith’s team “unlawfully and unconstitutionally accessed my private text messages, along with 43 other Members of Congress, in clear violation of the Constitution.”
She said she long suspected there had been “unconstitutional spy[ing] on members of Congress.”