Jack Smith’s Trump investigation scooped up communications from major media
by Stephen Dinan · The Washington TimesFormer special counsel Jack Smith’s probe into President Trump and Republicans collected “communications” from members of the news media, including major networks and newspapers, the Senate’s senior lawmaker revealed Tuesday.
Sen. Charles E. Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the outlets ranged from The Associated Press and CBS’ “60 Minutes” to The Washington Times and The Wall Street Journal.
Mr. Grassley, Iowa Republican, called it a “disgraceful government overreach.”
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“This wasn’t a normal prosecution,” Mr. Grassley said as he opened a committee hearing Tuesday with Mr. Smith appearing to testify.
All told, Mr. Grassley said, nearly 50 journalists’ communications were collected by the special counsel’s probe.
Mr. Grassley had previously revealed that Mr. Smith had sought phone toll records from companies on 16 members of Congress.
Mr. Smith also obtained actual communications from the lawmakers when he subpoenaed phone records from the Trump White House and failed to filter out information that implicated the Constitution’s protections for members of Congress engaged in speech and debate.
Mr. Grassley said Mr. Smith obtained the news media’s communications through messages with “government sources.” That might include those White House phones.
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The full list of news outlets Mr. Grassley cited: CBS’ “60 Minutes,” The Associated Press, Bloomberg, CBS, CNBC, CNN, Fox News, The Los Angeles Times, the “Mark Levin Show,” NBC, NPR, New York Magazine, Reuters, The Federalist, The Washington Post, The Washington Times and The Wall Street Journal.
Mr. Grassley said Mr. Smith also got communications of the Media Research Center, a right-leaning media watchdog.
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Stephen Dinan
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