The package to reopen the government allows Senators to file a lawsuit against federal investigators if their phone records were accessed without their knowledge.
The provision, reported by the New York Times, suggests that some senators could receive milions of dollars due to former special counsel Jack Smith’s access of their phone data. According to the provision, “any Senator whose Senate data, or the Senate data of whose Senate office, has been acquired, subpoenaed, searched, accessed, or disclosed in violation of this section may bring a civil action against the United States if the violation was committed by an officer, employee, or agent of the United States or of any Federal department or agency.”
Those who are successful in such claims can receive $500,000 per violation, the package notes.
The court will also provide “reasonable attorney’s fees and costs of litigation” and “such injunctive or declaratory relief as may be appropriate.”
Smith and his team were monitoring the phone records and locations of nearly a dozen Republican lawmakers, including Sens. Lindsey Graham, Josh Hawley, Marsha Blackburn, and Ron Johnson. The records show the FBI’s Cellular Analysis Survey Team conducted a “preliminary toll analysis” of their communications during Smith’s investigation into the Jan. 6 Capitol events.
Several Republicans have called for Smith to be referred to the Department of Justice for professional misconduct after obtaining lawmakers’ phone data.
“As part of Jack Smith’s weaponized witch hunt, the Biden DOJ issued subpoenas to several telecommunications companies in 2023 regarding our cell phone records, gaining access to the time, recipient, duration, and location of calls placed on our devices from January 4, 2021, to January 7, 2021,” the lawmakers wrote. “We have yet to learn of any legal predicate for the Biden Department of Justice issuing subpoenas to obtain these cell phone records.”
