Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, accused Democrats on his committee of defending former Special Counsel Jack Smith while ignoring findings that Smith’s team subpoenaed bank records from nearly 5,000 Americans across the country without their knowledge.
In a letter addressed to Ranking Member Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, and other committee Democrats, Grassley said Democrats were “falling over themselves” to defend Smith’s conduct rather than addressing what he called the “clearly abnormal investigative tactics” used during the special counsel’s investigations into Donald Trump.
Grassley wrote that since January 2025 he has released nearly 2,200 pages of records tied to the Arctic Frost investigation and Smith’s special counsel team. “If you want to use those records, you’ve been given access to do so. But the important question is, where is the outrage from your side about [Smith’s] clearly abnormal investigative tactics?” Grassley wrote.
Last week Grassley disclosed that Smith’s team had secretly subpoenaed bank records belonging to nearly 5,000 Americans nationwide. According to Grassley, a combined 914 of those people reside in the home states of Judiciary Committee Democrats, though he said none of those Democrats had publicly condemned the subpoenas.
Grassley is calling on Democrats to demand an apology from Smith over the subpoenas and to join Republicans’ efforts to hold him accountable.
Durbin’s Response
Durbin pushed back, writing that “Jack Smith deserves an apology from my Republican colleagues who falsely accused him of perjury.” Durbin called the episode “an embarrassment to the Committee that demands an explanation,” and said that explanation should begin with Republicans turning over documents to Senate Judiciary Democrats that he said were withheld before Smith’s committee hearing, in what he described as a violation of Senate rules.
The exchange is the latest round in a monthslong dispute between Grassley and committee Democrats over the conduct of Smith’s investigations, which included the classified documents case and the election interference case brought against Trump when he was a private citizen. Grassley’s past hearings have examined allegations that Smith’s team obtained records on members of Congress and family members of Trump, and pursued financial records tied to Republican donors.
