Former special counsel Jack Smith gathered reporters’ private messages as part of his “Arctic Frost” investigation, according to a whistleblower disclosure to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA).
The records show Smith’s team received communications involving reporters from more than a dozen national news organizations while investigating President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The messages were produced by the National Archives in response to a June 2023 subpoena seeking records associated with 87 phones used by officials in Trump’s first White House.
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The journalists worked for outlets including the Associated Press, Reuters, CNN, Fox News, CBS News, CNBC, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, NPR, and the Los Angeles Times, according to Grassley’s office.
The disclosure does not indicate that the journalists themselves were targets of the investigation. Rather, their messages with government officials were included in the White House records obtained by investigators.
“What will the partisan media say about this disgraceful government overreach? This wasn’t a normal prosecution by any means,” Grassley said in announcing the findings.
The disclosure came the same day Smith appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where Republicans pressed him over the breadth of Arctic Frost and Democrats defended...
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