WASHINGTON — Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) is demanding that the Federal Communications Commission probe Verizon for allegedly breaking federal law by sharing his and other Republicans’ call logs with former special counsel Jack Smith.
Hagerty filed a consumer complaint against the carrier on Monday and urged FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and the chief of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau Eduard Bartholme to “hold Verizon accountable.”
Verizon reps, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment, have previously pointed to a court order compelling the disclosures. The FBI began compiling the phone records during its Arctic Frost investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
Last year, whistleblower disclosures to Congress revealed that around a dozen lawmakers had their phone metadata seized following secret subpoenas from Smith’s office in 2023 after the special prosecutor took over the Arctic Frost probe.
Hagerty, one of those members, accused Verizon of violating the Communications Act and the law’s regulations ordering carriers to “take reasonable measures to discover and protect against attempts to gain unauthorized access to CPNI [customer proprietary network information].”
“Verizon handed over my private phone records without a fight,” the Tennessee Republican said.
“I’ve been a customer for decades—Verizon’s complicity in the witch hunt against President Trump and his supporters, like me, constitutes a profound breach of trust,” Hagerty added. “If this can happen to a sitting United States Senator, it can happen to any American. We need accountability.”
Smith and other prosecutors in the special counsel’s office fired off grand jury subpoenas in May 2023 to phone carriers as part of the sprawling Arctic Frost probe into 2020 election interference efforts — which culminated in the indictment of President Trump.
AT&T questioned the lawfulness of the request before responding, and Smith’s office never followed up — but Verizon complied with the subpoenas.
“A court ordered Verizon not to tell anyone about that. We had no choice but to comply with the court order. So we did,” a spokesman previously said in a statement.
The carrier has since made clear it will proactively notify lawmakers when a non-disclosure order expires.
“Moving forward, we are implementing a rigorous new protocol for subpoenas involving congressional members, requiring escalation to a senior Verizon leader prior to anything being handed over,” Verizon said.
At least one Republican, Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, said that his AT&T records were turned in as well.
Federal judges also signed off on non-disclosure orders for the subpoenas, keeping them hidden for more than a year.
But the seized call logs were just uncovered months ago after whistleblowers brought the information to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).
In addition to Hagerty, Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) and Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) all had their Verizon logs subpoenaed.
Senate Republicans also recently tucked a provision into a must-pass spending bill to allow them to sue the Department of Justice for up to $500,000 if their phone metadata is taken again without their knowledge. The House stripped out that provision.
Hagerty noted Verizon still “refuses to apologize for its malfeasance.”
“That’s why I’m pleased to take this first step in holding Verizon’s feet to the fire. Their CEO and CLO, a former Henry Waxman staffer, chose to ignore my inquiries when I sent them letters,” he said. “Maybe the FCC will fare better.”
Grassley has described Smith’s efforts as a “fishing expedition” for Arctic Frost, “the vehicle by which FBI agents and DOJ prosecutors could improperly investigate the entire Republican political apparatus.”
Smith’s team sent a total of 197 subpoenas to target an astounding 430 Republican-aligned groups and individuals, the whistleblower files show.
Republicans in Congress balked at the “unconstitutional” move by the former special counsel — and called for the impeachment of judges like DC US District chief judge James Boasberg, who signed off on the non-disclosures.
“Any customer would expect Verizon to challenge a patently unconstitutional subpoena like the one it received for my records, but Verizon just rolled over instead,” Hagerty said.
The Republican senator in his missive also claimed Verizon “continued to cover up its illegal disclosure of phone records and submitted false information to the Senate about its disclosures of Senate phone records.”
Smith testified to the House Judiciary Committee in January that the records sought were for calls made between Jan. 4 and 7 of 2021. Investigators wanted to know who was talking to Trump’s then-personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, “to try to further delay” the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory.
Smith told lawmakers the subpoenas were “consistent with department policy,” while admitting at other points in his testimony that the “policy has since changed.”
The Post reached out to the FCC for comment.
