Records obtained during former Special Counsel Jack Smith's federal election investigation of President Donald Trump included communications between nearly 50 journalists and Trump administration officials, according to disclosures from the Senate Judiciary Committee ahead of a hearing scheduled for Tuesday.
The communications appeared in records produced by the National Archives in response to a June 2, 2023 subpoena seeking text-message records associated with 87 White House phones from Trump's first administration, a spokesperson for Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said, citing whistleblower disclosures made to the chairman.
Previous congressional disclosures had shown that investigators obtained records involving members of Congress. The latest records reveal that the production also swept up communications between government officials and journalists working for some of the country's largest news organizations.
Fox News personnel appear in the records, along with journalists from CNN, CBS News — including its newsmagazine «60 Minutes» — NBC News and CNBC. The records also include communications involving journalists from the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Bloomberg, Los Angeles Times, New York Magazine, Reuters, the Associated Press and NPR, as well as The Federalist and Washington Times.
The nationally syndicated «Mark Levin Show,» hosted by Fox News host and former Reagan Justice Department chief of staff Mark Levin, also appears in the records. The Media Research Center was identified Tuesday as another organization swept up in the probe.
Grassley challenged the scope of the investigation in comments Tuesday. «What will the partisan media say about this disgraceful government overreach? This wasn't a normal prosecution by any means,» he said.
The committee has identified the individual journalists whose communications appear in the records but does not plan to release their names because of privacy concerns, a Grassley spokesperson said.
The National Archives produced responsive records on Aug. 21, 2023, according to documents previously disclosed through congressional oversight by Grassley and Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., of Arctic Frost. An Aug. 21, 2023 email from assistant special counsel Thomas Windom instructed members of Smith's team, including prosecutors and FBI personnel, to download documents associated with text messages from the White House phones.
Grassley and Johnson pressed the Justice Department and FBI in May for information about how potentially privileged material in that production was screened before investigators could review it. «We are writing to determine what procedures and protocols, if any, Smith and his team used to filter privileged or potentially privileged materials from being impermissibly accessed, reviewed and/or used,» the senators wrote.
The senators requested DOJ's filtering protocols and the names of officials assigned to review material for privilege before it reached investigators. The disclosure broadens questions surrounding Smith's handling of the White House records ahead of Tuesday's Senate hearing, including what safeguards governed investigators' access to communications involving lawmakers, journalists and other third parties.
The Judiciary Committee is expected to examine Smith's investigative practices and the broader scope of Arctic Frost. Fox News Digital has reached out to counsel for Smith as well as the Justice Department for comment.