00:00Your brother investigated the claims that Donald Trump was making. He found them to be false.
00:07Thank you, Senator Kennedy. Much has already been said today about the abuses of the Justice
00:13Department under President Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland. But I think it's worth
00:18reminding people at home why we're here today and why Chairman Grassley has called this hearing.
00:24The Arctic Frost investigation was a politically motivated witch hunt. It violated the law.
00:34And during the course of the investigation, the Department of Justice was weaponized
00:40to go after President Trump in the midst of his successful 2024 presidential election.
00:46But this was not only about a witch hunt targeting the president. Your weaponization
00:53also reached into the United States Senate. In May 2023, your office secured a subpoena for the phone
01:02records of my brother, Lindsey. You received his official government phone records and his personal
01:10phone records, including data on all the calls he made and received on those two phones in early January
01:192021, including, I might add, calls he made and received from me. At that time, he was a sitting United
01:30States Senator from South Carolina and the chairman of this very committee. It was Lindsey's job to cast a
01:38vote on whether to certify the 2020 election. And as a chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee,
01:44he was the one responsible for investigating whether that election had been tampered with.
01:49But that didn't stop you. Not only did you request Lindsey's and several other members' phone records,
01:56you asked Judge Jeb Boesburg to issue a gag order to make sure Lindsey didn't find out what you were
02:03doing.
02:04Judge Boesburg rubber-stamped your gag order to Lindsey's cell phone carrier, Verizon.
02:10Verizon complied with the order and did not tell the Senate or Lindsey about the subpoena,
02:15even though Verizon's contract with the Senate required Verizon to notify the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms.
02:24Chairman Grassley has pointed out that federal law does not let a carrier be barred from notifying
02:30a Senate office unless the member is the target of the investigation, which you never claimed Lindsey was.
02:38Nevertheless, the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms never received that notice.
02:43Lindsey was kept in the dark, as were several senators you targeted.
02:49And I think every member of this committee, Republican and Democrat, should be mad as hell about that.
02:56I want to talk a little bit more about this gag order because I think this is something that every
03:01American,
03:02no matter how you vote or who you support, needs to hear.
03:05The gag order that you requested to hide your tracks says, quote,
03:13the court finds reasonable grounds to believe that such disclosure will result in destruction of
03:20or tampering with evidence, intimidation of potential witnesses, and serious jeopardy to the investigation.
03:29End quote.
03:32The, quote, reasonable grounds came from you.
03:36You allege to a federal judge that my brother, Lindsey, a patriot who had dedicated over 30 years of his
03:45life
03:45wearing the uniform of his country in the United States Air Force, a sitting United States Senator,
03:52and a chairman of this very committee had the potential to destroy evidence, intimidate witnesses,
04:01and cause serious jeopardy to your sham of an investigation.
04:07In fact, in a separate gag order, you listed flight risk as a reason for obtaining a gag order for
04:14the Speaker of the House,
04:15a constitutional officer second in the presidential line of succession.
04:22And let me point out something for everyone.
04:24This subpoena was being sent to Verizon for records that Verizon had in their own possession.
04:33How the hell was Lindsey going to tamper with evidence he didn't even have in his possession?
04:40How was a member of Congress a flight risk?
04:44The legal term for your behavior would be obstruction of justice.
04:48But in South Carolina, we just call it a lie.
04:53This was undeniably a fishing expedition by you and your team to intimidate the President's allies in Congress.
05:04How do you know this?
05:05How do we know this?
05:07Because you didn't just send Verizon a subpoena and a gag order.
05:10You also sent one to AT&T for Senator Cruz's records.
05:14But unlike Verizon, AT&T pushed back.
05:17They asked you to explain how this request was in compliance with the Constitution.
05:22And you didn't have an answer.
05:24In fact, you didn't even respond.
05:27And you never followed up with AT&T because you knew what you were doing was wrong.
05:33It doesn't make sense unless the only motivation you had was to take down President Trump and his allies
05:42one by one before the election.
05:47So, Mr. Smith, do you really believe that Lindsey was going to destroy evidence that was not even in his
05:55possession?
05:58No, I believe your brother was a patriotic public servant.
06:03He was not a target of our investigation.
06:06And in fact, he likely would have been a witness in our case.
06:09Your brother investigated the claims that Donald Trump was making.
06:14He found them to be false.
06:16He said so on the House floor.
06:18Well, I have another question.
06:19Then why does the gag order say that disclosure of the subpoena would result in destruction of
06:25or tampering with evidence?
06:27Because disclosure of that subpoena could result in Donald Trump attempting to intimidate witnesses
06:34as he had before and after.
06:37The evidence in question belonged to Lindsey and was in the possession of Verizon.
06:43It makes absolutely no sense that anyone would be able to destroy the evidence you are seeking.
06:52Do you know what I think?
06:56I think you're just trying to bully my brother and other allies of President Trump.
07:03You caused my brother and a lot of other senators a lot of stress and that makes me sick.
07:13You should be ashamed of yourself.
07:16It's also a damn shame that you weaponized our legal system to do this.
07:24To go after a political opponent and his allies, including Lindsey.
07:31What a disgrace to our justice system and the Constitution that you would stoop this low.
07:40Shame on you.
07:45I yield back the remainder of my time and call on Senator Schiff.
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