Sen. Blackburn Calls Cell Phone Records Scandal an 'Egregious Invasion of Privacy’ by AT&T, T-Mobile & Verizon
Senate Republican wants to know why carriers rolled over for the Biden Justice Department.
Arctic Frost: Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) has asked in letters to the CEOs of AT&T, T-Mobile,and Verizon to explain why they complied with Justice Department subpoenas seeking phone toll records for eight Republican senators, including herself. Blackburn posted the Oct. 9 letters on her office website in addition to a press release. Blackburn, who serves on the Judiciary Committee, described the episode as an “egregious invasion of privacy that your company… inflicted upon eight U.S. Senators and one Member of Congress.” In identical letters to the carriers, Blackburn said the FBI obtained call metadata – including time, recipient, duration and location – for the period Jan. 4–7, 2021 as part of the so-called Arctic Frost investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021 riot on Capitol Hill.
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She alleged there was “no criminal predicate” for the subpoenas and pressed the companies to identify who approved compliance, why they did not move to quash the requests and what steps, if any, they took to protect lawmakers’ privacy. “We need answers immediately as to why your company allowed this invasion of privacy to occur,” Blackburn wrote, calling the subpoenas part of a “politically motivated” investigation by the Biden DOJ. Blackburn asked for responses to eight questions by 5:00 PM on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025. One question she asked was: “Can you confirm that the tolling data does not include the content of the calls that were examined in this investigation?” She signed off by saying, “We deserve transparency on this invasion of privacy, and I can assure you that accountability is coming.” (More after paywall.)
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