According to the newly released documents, Smith’s office issued a subpoena to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in June 2023 seeking text messages sent between October 2020 and January 20, 2021. The request covered phones assigned to White House personnel during President Trump’s first administration, including President Trump himself, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, and several other administration officials.
NARA reportedly delivered the requested material on August 21, 2023. DOJ records indicate that within roughly 30 minutes of receiving the production, senior prosecutor Thomas Windom downloaded the text messages. Less than an hour later, additional members of Smith’s investigative team had also downloaded the records and began reviewing them.
The timeline has become a central point of controversy because, according to a DOJ cover letter accompanying the release, investigators allegedly did not wait for a Filter Team to complete its review before accessing the material.
The Filter Team process exists to separate potentially privileged communications before investigators see them. That review is intended to protect sensitive legal communications, including attorney-client privilege and conversations that may be shielded under the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause for members of Congress.
The records released Tuesday indicate investigators reviewed the material before that screening process had been completed.
The communications reportedly included messages involving 44 members of Congress from both political parties, consisting of approximately 20 senators and 24 House members.
Among the lawmakers whose communications were reportedly included are Senators Chuck Grassley, Ron Johnson, Lindsey Graham, Josh Hawley, Rand Paul, John Cornyn, and Mike Lee, along with Representatives Kevin McCarthy, Jim Jordan, Thomas Massie, and numerous others.
Following the release of the records, Grassley sharply criticized the conduct of Smith’s investigation.
“Jack Smith’s criminal investigation of President Trump was a runaway train that had no brakes. Based on the information that’s been produced to me and Senator Johnson, Biden DOJ and FBI investigators apparently ignored their own routine investigative protocols to obtain and review work-related messages from me and dozens of my Republican and Democrat colleagues who were outside the scope of the government’s investigation,” Grassley said.
Grassley also urged Democratic lawmakers whose communications were reportedly captured to take the allegations seriously regardless of politics.
“I hope my Democrat colleagues, several of whom had their own texts swept up, finally put partisanship aside and recognize the severity of these actions. Smith’s team ran roughshod over the Constitution even after repeated warnings. 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.”
The latest disclosure also raises questions about Smith’s prior testimony before the House Judiciary Committee. According to Grassley and Johnson, the newly released records conflict with Smith’s sworn testimony in which he stated that his office had neither requested nor reviewed these congressional text messages.
Tuesday’s document release follows a series of earlier disclosures connected to the Arctic Frost investigation. In October 2025, Grassley released FBI records showing investigators had obtained “tolling data” from the personal phones of eight Republican senators and one Republican member of the House.
That metadata reportedly included call dates, times, durations, phone numbers contacted, and general location information, but did not include the contents of text messages. The senators identified in those records included Lindsey Graham, Bill Hagerty, Josh Hawley, Dan Sullivan, Tommy Tuberville, Ron Johnson, Cynthia Lummis, and Marsha Blackburn. Representative Mike Kelly was the lone House member identified in that earlier production.
Additional records later suggested Smith’s office obtained call logs involving at least ten Republican lawmakers while also compiling what investigators described as a “wish list” of additional members of Congress whose phone records could potentially be subpoenaed.
The newly released documents, however, appear to go a step further by alleging investigators reviewed the actual contents of congressional communications obtained through the NARA production after bypassing the department’s normal filtering procedures.
While no evidence released so far indicates that private citizens had their personal text message contents reviewed through this same White House records process, the broader Arctic Frost investigation was extensive. According to previously released records, prosecutors issued at least 197 grand jury subpoenas seeking records connected to roughly 430 Republican individuals and organizations, including Trump associates, private citizens, and groups involved in post-election activities.
For critics of Smith’s investigation, the latest disclosures reinforce long-standing claims that the special counsel’s office conducted an overly broad investigation in search of evidence rather than pursuing clearly defined allegations. Supporters of the investigation, however, have argued that the probe followed lawful investigative steps in examining events surrounding the contested 2020 election.
With Grassley pledging further hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, the controversy surrounding the Arctic Frost investigation and Jack Smith’s handling of congressional communications is likely to remain at the center of congressional oversight in the months ahead.
