Washington—The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Jim Jordan, renewed his call for the Justice Department to consider bringing charges against former special counsel Jack Smith after newly declassified documents revealed the surveillance of Susie Wiles' communications during the federal investigation into Donald Trump.
The documents show that FBI investigators linked to Smith's
team used a mechanism known as pen register and trap-and-trace to record the
phone communications of Wiles, who at the time was one of Trump's top aides and
would later become his chief of staff in the White House.
The surveillance took place between February and May 2023
and allowed investigators to identify Wiles' contacts with lawyers associated
with Trump, political advisors, members of his campaign, and journalists.
According to the documents, investigators reviewed communications with at least
21 lawyers and five journalists.
The records obtained consisted primarily of communications
metadata, such as phone numbers, times, and call durations, rather than the
content of the conversations. Nevertheless, the use of this information has
raised questions among Republican lawmakers about the scope of the
investigation.
Jordan maintained that the new revelations reinforce his
previous criticisms of Smith. The Republican lawmaker had already submitted a
request to the Justice Department to investigate the former prosecutor for
alleged false statements made to Congress regarding the collection of records
and messages during his investigations.
The Judiciary Committee has also questioned the actions of
Smith's team for gathering information related to members of Congress and
individuals connected to Trump. In July, the Senate Judiciary Committee
released documents showing that investigators obtained text messages from
dozens of lawmakers during the Trump-related investigations.