The House Judiciary Committee released transcripts of interviews conducted with five prosecutors who previously worked for former Special Counsel Jack Smith. The transcripts pertain to the unconstitutionally subpoenaed phone records of Republican Members of Congress. Investigators also obtained gag orders to prevent the lawmakers from knowing the records had been seized.
Those interviewed were J.P. Cooney, Molly Gaston, Ray Hulser, Tad Duree and Thomas Windom, each of whom were part of Smith’s team, as well as Brian Burnett, who worked for the Office of Inspector General (OIG).
The transcripts showcase details pertaining to Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), as he was the only lawmaker whose phone was seized as part of Smith’s investigation.
“In this particular case, I know I sure wanted, and I think the whole team wanted to image the phone and get it back to Congressman Perry as quickly as possible. We were trying real hard to do this in a way that was minimally disruptive, it was as respectful as it could be, and it didn’t put Congressman Perry in an awkward spot where we’re seizing a phone right out on Independence [Avenue] in front of the Rayburn Building or it’s some big hubbub,” Duree said. “So we tried to be very discreet, very cautious, very careful.”
Duree could not recall how investigators obtained Rep. Chip Roy’s (R-TX) records. “Were you concerned that you could be violating the Speech or Debate privilege by even obtaining and possessing this information?” Duree was asked, to which he said he was “aware of this as a possibility, but I don’t remember the level of concern, if any, I had about it.”
While Duree stated he could not recall details surrounding the case, he admitted that “if there is a nondisclosure order in place, [Members of Congress] are not able to challenge the subpoenas.”
Meanwhile, Burnett testified that he did not realize the number he subpoenaed belonged to Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH). “So prosecutors never told you that you were going to be serving a subpoena for, at the time, the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee’s phone records?” he was asked.
As far as Burnett was concerned, the information provided to him was “just phone numbers.”
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) revealed earlier this year that Smith’s team “secretly obtained” text messages from 44 members of Congress without following the department’s own filtering protocols. Last year, Grassley made public 197 subpoenas that were sent to 34 individuals and 163 businesses as part of the Arctic Frost investigation.
