Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) led Republicans in grilling phone company executives during a hearing on former special counsel Jack Smith’s surveillance of Republican lawmakers’ phone records during his Arctic Frost investigation.

AT&T senior executive vice president and general counsel David R. McAtee, T-Mobile executive vice president and general counsel Mark Nelson, and Verizon senior vice president and general counsel Chris Miller were all questioned Tuesday by members of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law, chaired by Blackburn. 

Tuesday’s event was the first in a series of Senate Judiciary Committee hearings to examine the “corrupt Arctic Frost investigation that targeted President Trump, duly elected members of Congress, and thousands of conservatives across the country,” the senator said in her opening statement. 

Pointing out that the committee also wants Smith himself to testify under oath, Blackburn argued that the former special prosecutor needs to “answer for his actions in this targeted, weaponized witch hunt.”

“We are ultimately here this morning because Jack Smith violated his oath of office. He trampled on American’s rights that are enshrined in the Constitution, all for one reason — to go after President Donald Trump and conservatives across this great nation,” she said.

Smith, who issued 197 subpoenas to over 430 conservative organizations and individuals during his two failed prosecutions against Trump, already testified before the House Judiciary Committee last month.

The FBI uncovered in October 2025 that Smith was tracking the phone calls of Blackburn and fellow Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham (SC), Ron Johnson (WI), Josh Hawley (MO), Cynthia Lummis (WY), Bill Hagerty (TN), Dan Sullivan (AK), Tommy Tuberville (AL), and Republican Rep. Mike Kelly (PA).

Alarming documents initially published by Fox News revealed that Smith and his Arctic Frost team had subpoenaed telephone providers for the lawmakers’ records in 2023.

In announcing the findings, FBI Director Kash Patel said the records were “seized for political purposes.”

At the time, an FBI official told Fox News that Smith and his team were able to see which numbers the politicians contacted, the locations from where the calls originated, and the locations where they were received. 
“That was the length that he went to to go after President Trump,” Blackburn continued on Tuesday. “Jack Smith took a page out of the old Russian playbook by saying ‘Give me the man, and I will give you the case against him.'”

“In this case, the man was President Trump and hundreds of conservative Americans who supported him,” she continued. “Luckily, we now have a commander-in-chief in the White House in President Trump who is working every day to root out the two-tiered system of justice implemented under Joe Biden that allowed this political witch hunt that targeted conservatives.”

When the FBI discovered the scandal, bureau officials explained that the records were investigated pursuant to an oversight request from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA), 

“Chairman Grassley began his work to uncover the atrocities of this Arctic Frost investigation in 2022,” Blackburn said. “And thanks to brave whistleblowers that have come forward, we have learned a lot.”

Other than Blackburn, four other senators who had their phone records subpoenaed by Smith also sit on the committee — Graham, Lee, Cruz, and Hawley. 

Blackburn also pointed out that Smith went to left-wing Judge James Boasberg, who ensured that the Republicans would not know they were being surveilled by signing non-disclosure orders that the senator argued had “no basis in fact.”

Before the questioning began, Blackburn said the committee would look into “the fact that Verizon and T-Mobile complied with Jack Smith’s May 2023 subpoenas, no questions asked,” while AT&T did push back to a degree. 

“We’ll also hear from AT&T, who in the case of Senator Cruz, did raise speech and debate clause concerns, and pushed back against Jack Smith’s demands — despite previously producing the phone records of Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Congressman Chip Roy,” she stated. “It’s critical that each of these carriers go on the record about each of the decisions they made and why or why not they enabled and worked with Jack Smith’s weaponization of government.”

While questioning Miller, the representative from Verizon, Blackburn pressed him on why the company complied with Smith’s subpoena:

Blackburn: “Let me ask you this. I’ve got a question in something in your testimony, and I’m going to quote you, ‘Our processes could’ve been better suited to meet what was a new and unique set of circumstances.’ End quote… So, what you’re basically saying is it took Jack Smith issuing secret subpoenas for the records of dually elected Members of Congress as part of a weaponized investigation of President Trump for Verizon to finally realize that it probably could have ‘better processes?’ Is that accurate?”

Miller: “We should have had a better process to address the situation.”

Blackburn: “So… what you are saying is that you had no process in place as of May 2023, and you had no way of identifying that something was a Member of Congress’ records? Is that accurate?”

Miller: “That’s correct.”

Blackburn: “Why didn’t you reach out like AT&T did?”

Miller: “I don’t want to speak for my fellow panelists at AT&T. I would say that was a good catch.”

Blackburn: “I didn’t ask you to speak for them. I asked why you did not take an action, and you did not.”

Hawley, who had his phone data handed over from Verizon to the Arctic Frost team without his knowledge, said, “We’re talking here about members of Congress.”

“The fact that you testified earlier that you get hundreds of thousands of requests for personal information every year is chilling because what all your customers should know is you just turn it over willy-nilly,” the Missouri senator stated.

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) also scolded Miller, saying, “You ought to hide your head in a bag.”

“This isn’t over — and all the rest of you should too,” he added to AT&T’s McAtee and T-Mobile’s Nelson.

AT&T reportedly “quizzed” Smith’s team about the lawfulness of releasing Cruz’s and another member’s phone records, prompting Arctic Frost to “back off,” according to the New York Post. 

Speaking to McAtee, Graham said, “And they backed down and folded like a cheap suit. They never pushed. They never went into court, right?”

“They never followed up,” the AT&T executive replied.

“Because they’re on a fishing expedition,” the South Carolina senator pressed on. “So if any of you had challenged these guys, they’d went away.”

Graham also directed his ire at Miller, pointing to Verizon’s contract with the Senate Sergeant at Arms.

“You got a contract to protect us… You failed me!”

“Do you realize Section 2 U.S.C. 6628 says, ‘A Senate office shall not be barred through operation of any court order or any statutory provision from notifying the Senate of any legal process?’” he asked.

Miller admitted that Verizon had “frustrated” Graham “as a policymaker and a customer” — but denied breaking the contract or the law. 

“We were compelled to provide this information under the law. And we complied. No matter who is the subject of a subpoena, Verizon cannot ignore a valid legal demand or a court order,” Miller testified.

Blackburn argued why this should be a privacy concern of every American. 

“If this kind of invasion of privacy can happen to sitting members of Congress, and even the president of the United States, it can and probably will happen to all Americans unless we stop it right here,” the senator said. “This was the worst weaponization of government in American history, and I’m determined to ensure that Jack Smith is held accountable to prevent another Arctic Frost from happening again. The American people deserve nothing less.”

Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, DC. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.