Shocking new reports have revealed that former special counsel Jack Smith’s investigators dug up records that contained communications between nearly 50 journalists and Trump administration officials, including some who worked for Fox News, after issuing a subpoena for text-message records that were associated with dozens of White House phones during a federal election investigation of President Donald Trump.
Previous congressional disclosures showed that investigators got their hands on records involving a number of members of Congress. These latest records show the production included communications between officials in the government and journalists working for some of the largest news organizations on earth.
The communications were discovered in records that were produced by the National Archives in response to a subpoena seeking material associated with a total of 87 White House phones from President Trump’s first term in the Oval Office, according to information from a spokesperson representing Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA).
According to a report from Fox News, Grassley hammered on the biased media for their lack of coverage concerning Smith’s investigation. “What will the partisan media say about this disgraceful government overreach? This wasn’t a normal prosecution by any means,” he said. Fox then revealed that the Media Research Center was one of the organizations swept up in the probe.
David Bozell, the group’s president, stated in 2025 that “not one single broadcast network aired one solitary second” about Smith’s alleged spying on conservative groups and senators following a bunch of public disclosures. Fox News is also one of the organizations whose reporters appear in the records, along with some from CNN, CBS News, NBC News, and CNBC.
The records that were obtained also contained a number of communications between journalists from the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Bloomberg, Los Angeles Times, New York Magazine, Reuters, the Associated Press, and NPR. Smith also targeted Fox News host Mark Levin and his nationally syndicated program, “The Mark Levin Show.”
The records are from a June 2, 2023 subpoena that was issued by Smith’s office to the National Archives, looking for text messages sent from phones connected with a plethora of officials who served during Trump’s first presidential term. Fox News’ report also said that the Archives produced responsive records on August 21, 2023, according to information from documents previously disclosed through congressional oversight by Grassley and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI).
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In May 2026, both Grassley and Johnson pressed the FBI and DOJ to provide information about how privileged material in that production was screened before investigators were granted access to it. In August 2023, an email from assistant special counsel Thomas Windom told members on Smith’s team, including prosecutors and personnel with the FBI, to download documents associated with text messages from the White House phones.
“We are writing to determine what procedures and protocols, if any, Smith and his team used to filter privileged or potentially privileged materials from being impermissibly accessed, reviewed and/or used,” Grassley and Johnson stated in a letter. The Judiciary Committee is all set to take a closer look into Smith’s investigative practices to see if any lines were crossed.
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