Former special counsel Jack Smith and his team acquired at least 4,782 checks from Americans who had made mainly small donations to President Trump or Trump- aligned entities between September 2019 and August 2023, according to bombshell records provided to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) via legally protected whistleblower disclosures.
Smith subpoenaed the checks of thousands of Trump supporters across all 50 states, as well as Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, as part of its Smith’s “Arctic Frost” election case against President Trump. Checks for as little as $1.00 were obtained by the special counsel, providing anti-Trump investigators at the Biden Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) with the home addresses, bank account, routing numbers and signatures of Trump supporters.
Whistleblower records show the checks were routed to former FBI Special Agent Walter Giardina, the anti-Trump agent who had allegedly begged to be on the Crossfire team and was involved in many cases against Republicans.
According to Grassley, Smith’s investigators also obtained records containing communications between 44 journalists and Trump administration officials after subpoenaing text-message records associated with dozens of White House phones during the federal election investigation into Trump.
Journalists from Fox News, CNN, CBS News, NBC News, CNBC, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Bloomberg, Los Angeles Times, New York Magazine, Reuters, the Associated Press and NPR, as well as The Federalist and Washington Times, among others, were all caught up in Smith’s dragnet.
“What will the partisan media say about this disgraceful government overreach? This wasn’t a normal prosecution by any means,” Grassley stated Tuesday morning, ahead of a Senate Judiciary hearing Tuesday, titled: “Oversight of Jack Smith’s Abuse of Authority and the Targeting of Republicans and Related Matters.”
During the hearing, Grassley confronted Smith about his targeting of donor data.
“Did your Special Counsel operation obtain possession of donor data, including financial information?” he asked Smith. “Yes or no?”
Smith dodged the question by answering: “Our investigation was focused on investigating matters under my mandate, including whether any person or entity violated the law with attempts to prevent the peaceful transfer of power.”
After Grassley repeated the question, Smith acknowledged that his team had indeed obtained financial information on ordinary Americans.
“Yes, we acquired financial information,” Smith admitted. “As I sit here right now, I can’t recite to you every subpoena we issued. I can tell you why we issued subpoenas.”
Apparently referring to January 6, he explained: “it was to conduct a criminal investigation into one of the most serious crimes that has ever happened in our nation’s history.”
He added, “I have a duty to collect facts.”
“Let me say, indeed you did,” Grassley fired back. “You obtained at least 4,782 donor checks—many of those checks were for five to ten dollars.”
The Iowa senator also noted that 42 of the subpoenaed checks were “from Iowans who dared to donate money to Republicans.”
“No matter what you say, there’s no legitimate basis for what you did, Grassley stated. “Especially since your staff killed an investigation into the Clinton campaign. Donations to Republican groups wasn’t necessary to your investigation, which is proved out by the fact it wasn’t mentioned in your public report. Now, the Justice Department and FBI will forever possess thousands of people’s addresses, phone numbers, banks, bank account numbers, bank routing numbers and copies of their true signatures. Every member on this committee ought to be outraged for what happened to their constituents. Which one of my Democratic colleagues will join me in that outrage?”
Grassley noted that additional subpoena returns with more donor checks may be uncovered as the Committee continues its investigation.
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In his opening statement, the senator detailed how J.P. Cooney, Jack Smith’s deputy, had pushed to open Operation Rampart Twelve, an investigation launched in January 2021, based on unfounded and discredited allegations that Republican members of the House of Representative had led “reconnaissance tours” in advance of January 6.
According to Grassley, Cooney and three of his colleagues were warned in 2023 that subpoenaing congressional information could violate the Speech or Debate clause and that legislators may intervene and oppose that subpoena process.
“They didn’t care then, or when they obtained the content of messages from 44 Members, including this senator,” Grassley noted, adding that Cooney had actually told colleagues, “I’m an advocate for repealing the clause.”
Bizarrely, Cooney also once vowed to “prosecute any nun who still wears a head habit,” according to Grassley.
After revealing that Cooney and another member of Smith’ staff had filed a complaint with the Department of Justice Inspector General to investigate DOJ whistleblowers who had exposed Smith’s abuses of power, Grassley asked the former special counsel if he supported retaliation against whistleblowers.
Smith denied knowing about any such cases.
“I am not aware of any whistleblower being investigated,” he testified, before adding, “I believe public servants should be protected.”
Smith went on to defend disgraced anti-Trump agents Giardina and Special Agent Timothy Thibault, after Grassley accused them of creating false predicates to persecute Trump and his supporters, saying he was “extremely proud” to have worked with them.
“The fact that they have been targeted illegally, lost their jobs illegally, and had their lives turned upside down by this Department of Justice is an outrage!” Smith said.
Records obtained by Grassley also refute statements made by Smith in a February 2024 court filing regarding the National Archives and Records Administration’s (NARA) involvement in the classified document case against President Trump.
“Jack Smith represented to court that the National Archives didn’t substantively assist with the classified documents case against President Trump. These representations to the court were entirely false,” Grassley said.
In response to President Trump’s January 16, 2024, motion to compel discovery from NARA on the basis that NARA participated in the government’s prosecution, the Special Counsel’s Office on February 2, 2024, claimed to the court that NARA was not part of the prosecution team and therefore President Trump’s motion should be denied. Specifically, the Special Counsel Office’s filing says that no NARA personnel “played any role in the development of prosecutorial strategy” and “NARA’s involvement in the investigation consisted entirely of providing documents and information.”
However, according to NARA communications obtained by Chairman Grassley, former NARA General Counsel Gary Stern reviewed, commented on and gave edits to the Department of Justice’s court filings related to the classified documents case against President Trump.
Additionally, Grassley revealed Tuesday that Smith’s classified documents case against Trump was based on a “non-criminal” referral that was initially dismissed by the FBI as a “spillage” issue with “little likelihood of being pursued as a criminal matter.”
“Jack Smith’s operation was a partisan weapon,” said Grassley. “He broke the rules, lied to the court and engaged in bad faith throughout. His operation has no credibility – only to the partisan media and Democrats who cheered him on,” Grassley said.
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