The FBI investigated Republican lawmakers as part of its Biden-era probe into President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, GOP Senators announced Monday.
The investigation under former special counsel Jack Smith ultimately culminated in a number of felony charges brought against Trump, but the case was dismissed after his reelection in 2024. The records, which were narrowly tailored around the date of the certification of the 2020 election in early January 2021, included phone data for Republican members of Congress.
“They’re casting this net, this fishing expedition against members of the Senate and the House,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chair of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, said in a press conference to announce the findings. “There is no predicate. There’s no reason for this other than a fishing expedition, which, again, should outrage and shock every American.”
Johnson is among the elected officials included in the records request, alongside fellow GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee. Some of these lawmakers were on hand for the press conference announcing the findings.
Republican Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania also appears to have been mistakenly identified as a senator and included in the list of lawmakers whose records were seized as part of the now-disbanded FBI investigation.
The phone records sought by Smith’s team were for calls that took place between Jan. 4 and Jan. 7, 2021 — on either side of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by rioters seeking to disrupt Congress’ certification of the 2020 election results.
The FBI probe did not obtain the content of the calls, only the recipients, the length of calls and the date on which they were placed. The request for this information was approved by a grand jury.
Asked at the press conference whether he would call Smith others to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) declined to provide further details on the investigation’s next steps. Johnson, however, suggested former FBI Director Christopher Wray — who Trump pushed out of the post in favor of Kash Patel — would have to answer questions.
Patel turned over the phone records sought by Johnson and Grassley. Before being confirmed as FBI Director Patel was a House aide who worked to discredit the investigation into Russian election interference and the 2016 Trump campaign.
Republicans will likely highlight these revelations during a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing scheduled for Tuesday with Attorney General Pam Bondi.
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