Special Counsel Jack Smith obtained former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's AT&T cellphone records during an investigation into the Jan. 6 riot on Capitol Hill.
Fox News initially reported last week that Smith had “subpoenaed AT&T over McCarthy's allegations.” records, but AT&T told Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley that the company did not release any of the former Speaker's phone records.”
The publication later obtained a letter sent by AT&T to Grassley, which stated that the former House Speaker's recordings had been transferred to Jack Smith:
On January 24, 2023, Smith allegedly requested “records of toll calls made on the personal cell phones of U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (AT&T) and U.S. Representative Louie Gohmert (Verizon).”
The information was included in a “notice of significant matter” issued by the FBI's Criminal Investigation Division on May 25, 2023.
However, AT&T notified Grassley that the company had received a subpoena for McCarthy's records in January 2023, separate from a subpoena in May 2023 for other toll records, and allegedly inadvertently provided those personal cell phone records to Smith.
AT&T said the subpoena “requested personal cell phone number records” and that it “in no way indicates that the information sought is associated with a Member of Congress.”
“We identified (a subpoena) as such yesterday based on the phone number listed on the subpoena,” the company said. “Based on this newly discovered record, we write to correct our response dated October 24, 2025, which was based on a reasonable review of our records at that time.”
“AT&T's Global Legal Claims Center receives hundreds of thousands of legal claims each year, and unlike the May 2023 subpoena discussed in our October 24 response, the subpoena we issued today did not request campaign account records,” they continued. “Rather, as confirmed by press reports, the subpoena sought personal cell phone records. It also did not in any way indicate that the information sought was related to a Member of Congress.”
“As a result, the subpoena processing center had no reason to believe that the telephone number was associated with a Member of Congress, and AT&T did not make further inquiries to the special counsel and provided the information as required by the subpoena,” it concluded.
Kevin McCarthy said in a statement to Fox News that “Jack Smith broke the law and confiscated my phone records as Speaker of the House.”
“If a corrupt justice does the same to the speaker, it will do the same to anyone,” he said. “The Department of Justice has the authority and responsibility to hold him accountable.”
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