Jack Smith Scooped Up Reporters’ Phone Data in Trump Probe: ‘Massive First Amendment Breach’
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Conservative media outlets pushed back after revelations that former special counsel Jack Smith’s investigators obtained communications from nearly 50 journalists at more than a dozen media outlets on both the right and left.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, revealed the information Tuesday.
The Senate Judiciary Committee previously exposed that Smith and the Justice Department obtained the phone data of dozens of Republican lawmakers as part of the investigation into Donald Trump’s challenge to the outcome of the 2020 election.
“What I can say today is that Smith also obtained communications from members of the media, to include: 60 Minutes, Associated Press, Bloomberg, CBS, CNBC, CNN, Fox News, LA Times, Mark Levin Show, Media Research Center, NBC, NPR, NY Magazine, Reuters, The Federalist, The Washington Post, Washington Times and the Wall Street Journal,” Grassley, an Iowa Republican, said during his opening statement.
Grassley posed the question: “What will the partisan media say about this disgraceful government overreach? This wasn’t a normal prosecution by any means.”
Mark Levin, a TV and radio host and former chief of staff to Attorney General Ed Meese, raised First Amendment concerns about the probe.
Sen. Grassley says Jack Smith obtained communications from 18 media outlets, the Media Research Center among them. Everyone on that list should want answers.
We do. pic.twitter.com/sVto9VBL2b
— Media Research Center (@theMRC) September 29, 2026