The news that Special Counsel Jack Smith subpoenaed Senator Ted Cruz’s phone records as part of his January 6th investigation is nothing short of explosive—and it marks yet another chilling milestone in what Senator Cruz aptly called a “21st-century digital Watergate.”
Except that might actually understate the problem.
According to a report from Axios, Cruz’s phone data was demanded via subpoena from AT&T as part of “Arctic Frost,” the codename for Smith’s investigation into alleged ties between elected officials and the events of January 6, 2021. Fortunately, AT&T refused to comply, and the records were never turned over. But the intent is crystal clear: a sitting U.S. Senator—along with at least eight other Republican senators and one GOP congressman—was targeted for secret surveillance by a weaponized federal investigation.
Let that sink in.
NEW: Sen. Ted Cruz’s phone records were subpoenaed as part of then-special counsel Jack Smith’s investigations into Trump
The disclosure makes Cruz the ninth known GOP senator for whom the Justice Department sought phone records
https://t.co/orXeGfk7Bv— Stef Kight (@StefWKight) October 21, 2025
This wasn’t about investigating random actors with unclear connections to the events at the Capitol. These were sitting members of the U.S. Senate. And the dragnet wasn’t narrow. Smith’s subpoena reportedly requested everything: inbound and outbound calls, text messages, voicemails, addresses, direct connects—every shred of digital communication between January 4th and January 7th, 2021.
That’s not an investigation. That’s a political fishing expedition.
Cruz responded with justified fury, posting on X:
This was intentional, targeted political spying that likely went to the very highest levels of the administration.
There should be the broadest possible investigations and accountability. https://t.co/hb2jl0OEZk
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) October 21, 2025
He’s right—and he’s not alone. Senator Josh Hawley, whose records were also targeted, described the surveillance effort as “an abuse of power beyond Watergate, beyond J. Edgar Hoover.” And he’s not exaggerating. The scale, secrecy, and political direction of this operation make it one of the most egregious examples of DOJ overreach in modern American history.
Smith, for his part, is now under investigation himself—facing a probe by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel for potential Hatch Act violations, further eroding the credibility of what many already viewed as a partisan crusade dressed up as legal process.
And while the White House and corporate media outlets continue to pretend this is just another day in the post-Trump news cycle, the House Judiciary Committee isn’t playing along. Chair Jim Jordan has now demanded that Smith testify about what he calls “abusive surveillance,” writing:
“As the Special Counsel, you are ultimately responsible for the prosecutorial misconduct and constitutional abuses of your office.”
This is the weaponization of federal law enforcement—not in theory, not in hypotheticals, but in practice. It’s the DOJ being used to dig through the private communications of elected lawmakers whose only “crime” was objecting to election procedures or daring to support the former president.
The truth comes out. Biden’s Stasi who claimed to be saving “our sacred democracy” in fact worked overtime to destroy it – all for power. They spied on Catholic churches, prosecuted pro-lifers, deployed the FBI against parents at school board meetings – and tried to tap the… https://t.co/d9ULjfVZWM
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) October 6, 2025
And where are the voices from the so-called “No Kings” movement now? The protestors who just spent an entire weekend shrieking about imaginary tyranny while waving cardboard guillotines seem curiously silent when it comes to actual government surveillance of political opponents. No marches. No op-eds. No “sacred democracy” rhetoric. Nothing.
