Alleged Surveillance of Congress by Special Counsel Jack Smith Raises Separation-of-Powers Concerns

On July 16, 2026, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) told Fox News’s “Hannity” that former special counsel Jack Smith obtained and read text messages and phone-call records of members of Congress without a warrant, alleging a violation of the Constitution’s separation-of-powers and speech-or-debate protections.

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Jack Smith, appointed to investigate the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attack, is reported to have received phone-log data from the National Archives. Senate investigators say the data covered 44 members of Congress—both Republicans and Democrats—and included incoming/outgoing calls, texts, and location tracking. The alleged transfer occurred shortly after Kevin McCarthy became Speaker of the House.

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• Jack Smith – former special counsel leading the Jan. 6 probe.

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• Jim Jordan – Rep. from Ohio, House Judiciary Committee member.

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• Josh Hawley – Sen. from Missouri, vocal critic of Smith’s methods.

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• National Archives – federal agency that allegedly supplied the phone-log data.

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• U.S. Senate Committee – conducting the investigation that uncovered the alleged surveillance.

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• 44 members of Congress were reportedly included in the phone-log set.

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• The data allegedly contained “incoming calls, outgoing calls, text messages, and location tracking.”

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Jordan said the information was “given from the National Archives to Jack Smith’s team” without a warrant and that “the speech or debate clause was supposed to be filtered and screened.” He called the incident “a total separation of powers issue.” Hawley added that Smith “read my text messages” and “tracked my phone,” and that Smith “lied” under oath when he claimed he did not seek congressional texts. Both urged the Justice Department to consider prosecutorial action.

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Legal analysts note that the Senate findings have not been independently verified and that no formal charges have been filed. Some argue the speech-or-debate clause’s application to electronic records is unsettled, and they point to existing protocols that allow the National Archives to share records with authorized investigators.

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• Jordan asserts Smith “got my phone logs,” while Hawley cites Smith’s oath testimony denying any request for congressional texts.

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• The legal basis for the data transfer and whether a warrant was required remain unclear, as no court filings or independent audits have been released.

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• “That is a total separations of powers issue that they violated and they went to another branch of government, got that information without a warrant.” — Jim Jordan, Rep., R-OH

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• “Jack Smith said under oath, as you just played, that he didn’t seek the text messages of members of Congress,” — Josh Hawley, Sen., R-MO

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• “Do we need to refer him to the Justice Department, to Attorney General Blanche for them to go ahead and move forward with prosecution?” — Jim Jordan, Rep., R-OH

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• “Well, we know that he read my text messages. Yes, absolutely, Sean. He also tracked my phone. He tracked my whereabouts, my location, monitored my incoming calls and my outgoing calls. What did he do with the text messages? We don’t know that yet. What we do know is he absolutely read them. He absolutely shared them with members of his team and all of that illegally. The Justice Department requires that there be screening for any members of Congress in their text messages.” — Josh Hawley, Sen., R-MO

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Senate investigators said they are continuing to examine the matter and are evaluating a referral of Jack Smith to the Justice Department for possible prosecution. No timeline for further action has been announced.

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