Sen. Marsha Blackburn filed a federal lawsuit in Tennessee on Wednesday against former special counsel Jack Smith and the Justice Department, alleging that Smith improperly obtained her phone records during his investigation into President Trump’s efforts to challenge the 2020 election results.
The complaint, filed in Nashville, claims Smith committed a “gross abuse of power” and violated constitutional protections, including the separation of powers, the Speech or Debate Clause, Blackburn’s First Amendment right of association and the Fourth Amendment’s ban on unreasonable searches and seizures. Blackburn alleges that Smith’s team subpoenaed phone records belonging to her and eight other Republican senators, then obtained a court order barring Verizon from notifying her about the request.
Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican who is running for governor, is also asking the court to declare Smith’s November 2022 appointment by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland unlawful. She wants any documents or other material connected to her that remain in Smith’s or the Justice Department’s possession returned or destroyed.
The disclosure that Smith obtained the records came from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who revealed details of the so-called “Arctic Frost” investigation in October of last year. Besides Blackburn, the records involved Sens. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) and Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.). The information turned over to Smith’s team included addresses, incoming and outgoing call and text records, and payment data.
Verizon complied with the special counsel’s grand jury subpoena, but AT&T rejected a similar request from Smith’s office.
“Verizon willfully handed over my call logs to the Biden FBI without hesitation, empowering Jack Smith’s witch hunt targeting Republicans for political gain,” Blackburn said in a statement to The Post at the time.
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Blackburn also alleged that Judge James Boasberg, whom she described as an activist federal judge in Washington, ordered Verizon not to disclose the subpoena because she might destroy evidence. “There was no criminal predicate, no justification, and no excuse for Verizon aiding Jack Smith’s spying operation, especially when AT&T refused to comply under the same circumstances,” she said.
Blackburn filed the lawsuit a day after Smith appeared before the Judiciary Committee, where she serves, to defend his investigation of Trump, who served as both the 45th and 47th president.
“Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in serious crimes against our nation,” Smith told lawmakers. “If asked whether to prosecute a former president based on the same facts today, I would do so regardless of whether that president was a Republican or a Democrat.”
Trump was indicted on four counts tied to his efforts to remain in power after the 2020 election. The case was later shelved after he defeated Democrat Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
Separately, Hagerty announced Wednesday that he had filed a bar complaint against Smith in Tennessee. Before Garland appointed him special counsel, Smith worked as a federal prosecutor and corporate attorney in the state.
“He’s a blatantly partisan actor and his prosecutorial misconduct damaged our constitutional order,” Hagerty wrote on X. “He should never be able to practice law again.”