2025 – Page 172 – Texas Weekly Online

AT&T gave Jack Smith then-House Speaker McCarthy’s personal cellphone records amid J6 investigation

EXCLUSIVE: AT&T turned over private, personal cellphone records belonging to then-Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy to then-Special Counsel Jack Smith in January 2023 amid his investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, Fox News Digital has learned. Fox News Digital first reported Thursday that Smith subpoenaed AT&T for McCarthy’s records, but AT&T had indicated to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley that the company had not shared any of the former speaker’s phone records. JACK SMITH TARGETED THEN-HOUSE SPEAKER MCCARTHY’S PRIVATE PHONE RECORDS IN J6 PROBE, FBI DOCS REVEAL But Fox News Digital exclusively obtained a letter AT&T sent to Grassley, R-Iowa, citing the previous reporting, which led the telecommunications company to review the case and change its response. Smith, on Jan. 24, 2023, allegedly sought the “toll records for the personal cell phones of U.S. Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (AT&T) and U.S. Representative Louie Gohmert (Verizon.)” The information was included as part of a “significant case notification” drafted by the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division May 25, 2023. AT&T, though, notified Grassley that the company received a subpoena for McCarthy’s records in January 2023 — separate from the May 2023 subpoena for other toll records, and allegedly inadvertently supplied those personal cellphone records to Smith. “AT&T is producing today a January 23, 2023 grand jury subpoena issued by former Special Counsel Jack Smith to AT&T, also accompanied by a non-disclosure order relating to the subpoena,” AT&T wrote. AT&T referenced Fox News Digital’s exclusive reporting on the subpoena. “We identified (the subpoena) yesterday as such based on the phone number in the subpoena,” the company continued. “Based on this newly found record, we write to correct our October 24, 2025 response, which was based (on) a reasonable review of our records at that time.” “AT&T’s Global Legal Demand Center receives hundreds of thousands of legal demands each year, and unlike the May 2023 subpoena discussed in our October 24 response, the subpoena we produced today did not seek records from a campaign account,” AT&T explained. “Rather, as confirmed from press accounts, the subpoena sought records for a personal cellular phone number,” AT&T continued. “It also did not in any way indicate that the information sought related to a member of Congress. As a result, the subpoena processing center had no reason to believe that the phone number was associated with a member of Congress, and AT&T did not make further inquiries to the Special Counsel and produced the information as required by the subpoena.” Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told Fox News Digital that “Jack Smith broke the law and seized my phone records as Speaker of the House.” “If corrupt justice will do it to the Speaker, they’ll do it to anyone,” he said. “The DOJ has the authority and responsibility to hold him accountable.” JACK SMITH TRACKED PRIVATE COMMUNICATIONS, CALLS OF NEARLY A DOZEN GOP SENATORS DURING J6 PROBE, FBI SAYS Lawyers for Smith declined to comment. AT&T had initially told Grassley that when the company received the May 2023 request for records it “raised questions with Special Counsel Smith’s office concerning the legal basis for seeking records of members of Congress, the Special Counsel did not pursue the subpoena further, and no records were produced.” AT&T had also stressed that the company “has not produced any records or other information to Special Counsel Jack Smith” relating to “any member of Congress.” The revelations come after Fox News Digital exclusively reported in October that Smith and his “Arctic Frost” team investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots were tracking the private communications and phone calls of nearly a dozen Republican senators as part of the probe, including Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama and GOP Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania. An official told Fox News Digital that those records were collected in 2023 by Smith and his team after subpoenaing major telephone providers. GOP SENATOR DEMANDS FBI REVEAL IF SURVEILLANCE WENT BEYOND JACK SMITH’S PHONE TRACKING Smith has called his decision to subpoena and track Republican lawmakers’ phone records “entirely proper” and consistent with Justice Department policy. “As described by various Senators, the toll data collection was narrowly tailored and limited to the four days from January 4, 2021 to January 7, 2021, with a focus on telephonic activity during the period immediately surrounding the January 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol,” Smith’s lawyers wrote in October to Grassley. Grassley and Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., are investigating “Arctic Frost.” “Arctic Frost” was opened inside the bureau April 13, 2022. Smith was appointed as special counsel to take over the probe in November 2022. An FBI official told Fox News Digital that “Arctic Frost” is a “prohibited case,” and that the review required FBI officials to go “above and beyond in order to deliver on this promise of transparency.” The discovery is part of a broader ongoing review, Fox News Digital has learned. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Smith, after months of investigating, charged President Donald Trump in the U.S. District Court for Washington, D.C., in his 2020 election case, but after Trump was elected president, Smith sought to dismiss the case. Judge Tanya Chutkan granted that request. Smith’s case cost taxpayers more than $50 million.

Boasberg plans to move quickly on Trump contempt inquiry in major immigration case

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said Wednesday he will move quickly on a contempt inquiry centered on whether senior Trump administration officials knowingly defied his court order in March when it deported hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador despite an emergency order he handed down hours earlier. He also signaled the court’s strong interest in hearing from two current and former Justice Department officials as witnesses in the revived contempt inquiry, which could be met with fierce opposition by Trump officials if the hearing was any indication. WHO IS JAMES BOASBERG, THE US JUDGE AT THE CENTER OF TRUMP’S DEPORTATION EFFORTS? At issue is President Donald Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 wartime immigration law, to deport more than 250 Venezuelan migrants from the U.S. to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador earlier this year and whether Trump officials acted in defiance of a March 15 emergency order he issued attempting to block the flights. The fresh action on the contempt issue — and Boasberg’s role at the center of it — is almost certain to spark fresh ire from Trump and his allies in Congress. Boasberg, for his part, seemed unfazed for the duration of Wednesday’s hearing. “This has been sitting for a long time,” Boasberg said of the stalled contempt inquiry, “and I believe justice requires me to move promptly on this.” He told both parties at the outset he plans to move on the contempt inquiry “promptly” and ordered lawyers for the Justice Department and for the class of Venezuelan migrants to submit to the court by Monday in writing their proposals for how the case should proceed. “Your honor, the government objects to any further proceedings of criminal contempt,” Justice Department lawyer Tiberius Davis noted. Boasberg, in response, told Davis he “certainly intends to determine what happened” on the day the government either intentionally or unintentionally violated his emergency order intended to halt the Alien Enemies Act removals. The government, he said, “can assist me to whatever degree it wishes.” “I am authorized to proceed, just as I intended to do in April, seven months ago,” Boasberg noted. Boasberg also indicated the court’s strong interest in hearing witness testimony from Justice Department lawyer Drew Ensign and Erez Reuveni, who had represented the government in the case in March. EX-JUDGES BLAST TOP TRUMP DOJ OFFICIAL FOR DECLARING ‘WAR’ ON COURTS Reuveni, a whistleblower and former DOJ lawyer, testified after leaving the department earlier this year that he and other government attorneys were advised by senior department officials in March that they “may have to consider telling that court, ‘f— you’” if they were barred from deporting migrants under the Alien Enemies Act. “It seems to me that a factual inquiry is in order,” Boasberg said Wednesday. At issue is the Trump administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport hundreds of Venezuelan migrants in March from the U.S. to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador and whether officials complied with the court’s emergency order that blocked the removals temporarily and ordered all flights to “immediately” return to U.S. soil, which did not happen. The migrants were detained at the country’s maximum-security prison, CECOT, until July, when they were removed to Venezuela as part of a broader prisoner exchange that involved the return of at least 10 Americans detained in Venezuela. In April, Boasberg ruled that the court had found “probable cause” to move on criminal contempt proceedings against the Trump administration for failing to return the migrants to U.S. soil, citing what he described as the administration’s “willful disregard” of the court. TRUMP FOE BOASBERG ORDERS DOJ TO DETAIL STATUS OF CECOT MIGRANTS SENT TO VENEZUELA For months, the contempt case remained on ice. But, on Friday, judges for the full court of appeals rejected a request to reconsider the case and instead remanded to Boasberg to revive the contempt inquiry. The back-and-forth has landed the presiding judge squarely in the crosshairs of Trump and some of his Republican allies in Congress, some of whom attempted an unsuccessful eleventh-hour bid to seek his interim suspension from the bench before Wednesday’s hearing. Both parties also addressed the request for injunctive relief sought by the class of migrants deported under the Alien Enemies Act law. Boasberg’s emergency order in March touched off a complex legal saga that spawned dozens of federal court challenges across the country, though the one brought before his court was the very first. In July, he ordered the Trump administration to provide all noncitizens deported from the U.S. to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador to be afforded the opportunity to seek habeas relief in court and challenge their alleged gang status before they were removed again to Venezuela as part of the prisoner exchange. Efforts to ascertain the identities and locations of the class of migrants remain ongoing, though ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt said Wednesday the “overwhelming” number of the plaintiffs deported to El Salvador in March still want to have the chance to have their due process claims heard. The question of what that process entails, or how it will play out, remains to be seen, and Boasberg indicated plans for the court to consider that more fully in the weeks to come.

Social media erupts after far-left firebrand botches Epstein claims: ‘Insane accusation’

Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, is facing backlash on social media and labeled the “worst candidate possible” after she botched her facts while trying to tie Republicans to donations from Jeffrey Epstein during remarks on the House floor. After a tranche of Epstein-related documents were released earlier this week, Delegate Stacey Plaskett, the non-voting congressional representative for the U.S. Virgin Islands, came under fire for texting with the disgraced financier during a 2019 congressional hearing about Donald Trump’s potential conflicts of interest. Plaskett was fervently defended by several of her Democrat colleagues in the House after Republicans tried to censure her, including Crockett, who sought to accuse Republicans of their own ties to Epstein but failed miserably. Crockett said she had her team “dig in” to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records, which she claimed showed Lee Zeldin, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator and former member of Congress from New York, had accepted campaign donations from the disgraced financier in the past. However, the donations were from a different Jeffrey Epstein, prompting backlash from both parties against Crockett. FAR-LEFT FIREBRAND SPENDS EYE-POPPING AMOUNT OF CAMPAIGN CASH ON LUXURY HOTELS, ‘TOP-TIER’ LIMO SERVICES “If you’re looking for a good way to light $50 million on fire and lose by 15 points, then Jasmine Crockett is your candidate,” a Democratic strategist told Fox News Digital following Crockett’s floor remarks. Crockett has indicated she will decide by the Dec. 8 filing deadline whether she will throw her hat in the ring to challenge Republican incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. “She’s got no shot to win that Texas Senate race, and screw-ups like this show why she’s probably the worst candidate possible,” the Democratic strategist continued. Republicans did not hold back on their criticism of Crockett. “Crockett should get censured for this and staff should be fired,” GOP strategist Matt Whitlock posted on X. “What a shocking embarrassment to go to the floor with this kind of insane accusation, and have the WRONG JEFFREY EPSTEIN.” “Crockett getting this so badly wrong is I guess why politicians usually outsource their oppo research to the professionals,” Chuck Ross, a Washington Free Beacon investigative reporter, wrote on X. “But you also would expect a member of Congress to know more about FEC filings.” “Jasmine Crockett completely misrepresented, indeed outright lied, about various GOP politicians’ potential past donor relationships with Epstein,” former New York GOP Congresswoman Nan Hayworth said. Zeldin was also quick to respond to the inaccuracy, noting the person he received campaign donations from was a physician also named Jeffrey Epstein. HOUSE FREEDOM CAUCUS BID TO CENSURE DEMOCRAT OVER EPSTEIN LINKS GOES DOWN IN FLAMES “NO [clapping emoji] FREAKIN [clapping emoji] RELATION [clapping emoji] YOU [clapping emoji] GENIUS!!!” In addition to Zeldin, Crockett sought to claim other Republicans, such as Mitt Romney, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), George Bush, John McCain, Sarah Palin and others also received donations from the disgraced financier. “This is a distraction. … Why are y’all more interested in talking about Stacey Plaskett than Trump’s relationship with the man?” Crockett asked on the House floor, calling Trump and Epstein “besties” amid a resolution to censure Plaskett. “Miss me with your moral high ground. Folks who also took money from somebody named Jeffrey Epstein, as I had my team dig in very quickly: Mitt Romney, the NRCC, Lee Zeldin. George Bush, Win Red, McCain-Palin, Rick Lazio. … If this is the standard that we are going to make, just know we’re going to expose it all and just know that the FEC filings are available for everybody to review,” Crockett said. Crockett had to be fact-checked just a few weeks ago for comments that attempted to make Republicans look like they were trying to hide facts about President Trump as it pertains to Epstein’s crimes. During an interview on CNN, Crockett attempted to claim Republicans redacted important information from documents about Epstein’s crimes. However, the hosts of the segment jumped in to correct the record, telling Crockett that it was actually Democrats who decided to black out the name of one of Epstein’s accusers, Virginia Giuffre, who did not accuse President Trump of any wrongdoing. “Her recitation of the facts is simply, that, ‘I’m not going to trust Republicans. They probably made that up. And, by the way, we would never redact the name of somebody who is deceased anyway,’” conservative radio host Vince Coglianese said of Crockett’s CNN debacle. “Jasmine Crockett was trying to — literally, on the spot — come up with a conspiracy theory in order to defend the callous and disgraceful behavior of Democrats. Where have we seen this before? Well, I don’t know, every Democrat made-up scandal about Donald Trump we’ve seen ever. They’re constantly trying to defame him. It’s the wrap-up smear constantly delivered over, and over, and over again.” Fox News Digital reached out to Crockett for comment but did not receive a response.

Trump teases Musk at forum as once-frosty dynamic seems to take a turn

President Donald Trump may have made amends with SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, after referencing the billionaire in a speech Wednesday and after Musk attended a dinner at the White House Tuesday evening. While the two publicly exchanged harsh words in the spring after Musk left his post heading up the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), tensions appear to have simmered in the following months. “You’re so lucky I’m with you, Elon. I’ll tell you. Has he ever thanked me properly?” Trump said at the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum on Wednesday in Washington. “Although I do let him buy other than electric cars, but these are minor details. You know, we had a mandate which even Elon thought was ridiculous, that everybody has to have an electric car by 2030. And once, fortunately, he said, that’s a ridiculous thing.” Trump’s comments came while discussing a portion of his massive tax and domestic policy measure known as the one “big, beautiful bill” that he signed in July, which included a new tax deduction on car loan interest for purchases made between 2025 and 2028 permitting car buyers the ability to write off up to $10,000 annually in interest for certain loans on brand new cars. After Trump’s speech, Musk posted on X: “I would like to thank President Trump for all he has done for America and the world.” TRUMP, SAUDI CROWN PRINCE MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN TO MEET AT WHITE HOUSE AMID DIPLOMATIC SHIFTS IN REGION Tension between Trump and Musk reached an all-time high in May after the two publicly aired their differences regarding the “big, beautiful, bill.” Musk was highly critical of the measure amid reports the measure would increase the federal deficit, while Trump Musk’s disdain for the bill was due to a provision that eliminated an electric vehicle tax credit that benefited companies like Tesla. REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS STAND FIRM AGAINST MUSK’S ‘KILL THE BILL’ ASSAULT ON TRUMP’S AGENDA The two hurled insults against one another in May and June, with Musk claiming that Trump wouldn’t have won the 2024 election without the billionaire’s support. Meanwhile, Trump accused Musk of going “CRAZY” over cuts to the electric vehicle credits, and said that Musk had been “wearing thin.” However, the two were seen together at conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s funeral in Arizona in September. Musk also appeared at the White House Tuesday for a dinner during Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to Washington. Other tech executives who attended the dinner included Apple CEO Tim Cook and Dell CEO Michael Dell. The White House and Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

Trump explains trans sports controversy to Saudi investors who he says ‘don’t do a lot of transitioning’

President Donald Trump at the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, said people from Saudi Arabia think Americans are “crazy” for advocating for transgender athletes in women’s sports. At the forum, hosted at the Kennedy Center, Trump described being shocked watching a congressman fighting for biological men playing in women’s sports, explaining a situation where a biological man broke a women’s weightlifting record. “The man was 119 pounds higher than a woman champion, who was a phenomenal champion,” Trump said. “Beat her by 119, and he was an average lifter prior to transitioning. A lot of the Saudis are sitting here saying, ‘What the hell is he talking about — transitioning?’” TRUMP SAYS MAMDANI ‘THINKS IT’S WONDERFUL TO HAVE MEN PLAYING IN WOMEN’S SPORTS,’ MOCKS TRANS WEIGHTLIFTER He went on to say, unlike the U.S., the Saudis “don’t do a lot of transitioning.” “The Saudis are saying, ‘What is he talking about?’” Trump said. “They’re saying, ‘What do you mean women are playing against men? No, that doesn’t happen, does it?’ Yeah, it does. These people are crazy.” A group of 130 congressional Democrats recently filed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court urging justices to rule in favor of Becky Pepper-Jackson, a trans teen from West Virginia who successfully challenged a state law barring biological males from competing in girls’ sports, and Lindsay Hecox, who successfully challenged an Idaho law to compete on Boise State’s women’s cross-country team. TRUMP WARNS CALIFORNIA OVER TRANSGENDER POLICIES AFTER ISSUE HITS HIGH SCHOOL VOLLEYBALL Lawmakers who signed onto the letter include Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. A New York Times/Ipsos survey in January found most Americans, including a majority of Democrats, do not think transgender athletes should compete against women in sports. Of the 2,128 participants, 79%, including 67% of those who identified as Democrats or leaning Democrat, said biological males who identify as women should not be allowed to compete against women. Fox News Digital’s Jackson Thompson contributed to this report.

Dem senator divides party over controversial pardon proposal: ‘I don’t think it makes sense’

Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., called for an end to the presidential pardon through a post on X on Monday. “I’ve been in support of getting rid of a presidential pardon for either party. I don’t think it makes sense in the modern world. And we just saw why it’s a problem last week,” Slotkin said. “Last week, Donald Trump pardoned the CEO of a cryptocurrency company called Binance. This CEO had invested heavily in President Trump’s family crypto venture. I didn’t like it when Democrats did it, I don’t like it when Republicans do it,” Slotkin said. While many Democrats in the House of Representatives shared Slotkin’s concerns about the pardon’s use, members of the Judiciary Committee were split over whether lawmakers should eliminate the power outright. FELON FREED BY BIDEN ARRESTED AFTER SHOOTING, RAISING FEARS OF MORE ‘SECOND CHANCES’ GONE WRONG President Donald Trump’s pardoning of Changpeng Zhao, a tech billionaire who had been convicted of facilitating money laundering, is just the most recent controversy over the pardon power. Trump’s pardons for participants in the Jan. 6 riots — coupled with former President Joe Biden’s preemptive pardoning of his own family — have invited questions about its proper use. In light of Trump’s record on the power, Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., a member of the House Judiciary Committee, said he agreed with Slotkin. “I one thousand percent agree with her,” Lieu said. “It’s been abused.” JOHNSON ARGUES BIDEN PARDONS ‘INVALID’ AFTER BOMBSHELL AUTOPEN REPORT Other members said they had reservations about throwing it out completely. “In the past we have had presidents that have used pardons with a lot of thoughtfulness,” Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Calif., said. “We are now in an abnormal situation with a very rogue president who is not accountable to the American people or to Congress.” “I’m not trying to throw the baby out with the bath water. I do think it is a [power] that should be reserved because it’s been used actually with a lot of sincerity and thought. We should be focusing on getting rid of this rogue president rather than doing away with systems that have worked in the past.” Kamlager-Dove pointed to President Joe Biden’s commutation of Native American advocate Leonard Peltier’s sentence as one such example. He had been sentenced to two consecutive life sentences for the murder of a pair of FBI agents in 1975 but was released from prison earlier this year. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, echoed Kamlager-Dove’s thoughts. “I certainly think we need to analyze the systemic abuses that have been taking place. At the same time — that we maintain the power of clemency and mercy that has traditionally reposed in the executive branch,” Raskin said. BIDEN’S AUTO-PEN PARDONS DISTURBED DOJ BRASS, DOCS SHOW, RAISING QUESTIONS WHETHER THEY ARE LEGALLY BINDING While she wouldn’t support removing the presidential pardons, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., another member of the Judiciary Committee, would support limiting the power in some way. She acknowledged that any change to it would require a constitutional amendment — a long-shot reform that would require supermajority agreement among lawmakers. “In my mind, it’s about a narrow use,” Jayapal said. “It has to be much more tapered, and I’m not sure if you can make it that tapered — I would rather that than get rid of it.” Jayapal noted the country has adopted several constitutional amendments in the past. When asked if presidential powers still served a purpose, Lieu said he doesn’t know exactly, but believes its use has drifted from its original design. “Definitely not the role it’s playing now where Donald Trump is pardoning hardened criminals and his friends and allies — that’s not the framers’ vision of the pardon provision,” Lieu said.

Year: 2025