Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, claimed at a hearing Tuesday that sitting members of Congress’ phone records were secretly obtained in a way that prevented lawmakers from invoking constitutional protections.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Grassley and Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., who is overseeing the hearing, said their panels plan to grill hearing witnesses, including executives from Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile, about the disclosure of phone data.

In his opening remarks, Grassley noted that the three companies had received a combined 10 subpoenas, issued to 20 current or former Republican members of Congress, related to Arctic Frost, an FBI investigation that led to Smith’s charges against the president Donald Trump 2020 election.

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Sen. Chuck Grassley (center) speaks with Sen. Bill Hagerty (left) and Sen. Marsha Blackburn (second from left) during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 6, 2025, where they announced that an FBI whistleblower said the FBI subpoenaed the records of Republican elected officials in Congress during the Arctic Frost investigation. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

In his opening statement, Blackburn called the disclosures “an invasion of privacy and a violation of our constitutional rights.” Blackburn noted that the speech or debate clause provides members of Congress with additional protection from prosecution.

“It is vital that every airline documents the decisions they make and why – or why not – they were weaponized by Jack Smith’s government,” Blackburn said.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn believes the “common thread” among former special counsel Jack Smith’s alleged spies on congressional Republicans was their support for President Donald Trump. (Anna Chanmemaker/Getty Images)

The hearing will be republican Committee members, some of whom turned over a small trove of phone data to Smith’s team, sought answers from each phone carrier about how they handled subpoenas after they were received.

Grassley pointed to a federal statute that prohibits phone carriers from issuing subpoena notices to Senate offices unless the member is the target of an investigation. He also said Verizon, specifically, is under a contract that requires it to notify the Senate sergeant-at-arms of subpoenas related to senators.

The subpoenas come with a court-authorized gag order that requires phone companies not to alert senators about records requests. Blackburn, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah are all members of the committee and their records were subpoenaed as part of Arctic Frost.

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Former special counsel Jack Smith testifies during a House Judiciary Committee hearing in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, January 22, 2026 (Al Drago/Getty Images)

While the phone company came under scrutiny, Grassley also blamed Smith. Emails show that Smith received approval from the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Division to request senators’ records as part of the investigation, but a department official also said the subpoena could expose the Justice Department to a constitutional challenge.

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“Smith and his team acted irresponsibly while deliberately concealing their activities from members of Congress… Smith’s deceptive conduct severely infringed on the core constitutional activities of a constitutional officer,” Grassley said.

Smith, meanwhile, has repeatedly defended the subpoenas, noting that they were consistent with Justice Department policy at the time.