Senate Republicans Target Big Three Carriers After FBI Obtains Lawmakers’ Phone Data

WASHINGTON, Oct. 14, 2025 – When a group of senators met with FBI officials last week, they didn’t expect to hear their own phone records had been swept up in a federal investigation. 

Republican lawmakers said they were briefed by FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino on Oct. 6 that the Bureau, as part of investigation conducted by former Special Counsel Jack Smith, had obtained tolling data for the cell phones used by eight Republican senators and one House member following the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol in 2021.

Now, one of the lawmakers impacted has demanded answers from the nation’s biggest cell carriers. Citing what she called a “corrupt, politically motivated” operation, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., pressed the chief executives of AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile to disclose why they turned over congressional phone data to federal investigators.

“While Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi continue to investigate this matter, one thing is abundantly clear: we need answers immediately as to why your company allowed this invasion of privacy to occur wholly unchallenged,” Blackburn wrote in letters to the CEOs sent Thursday. 

She alleged providers gave investigators access to “the time, recipient, duration, and location of calls placed on [their] devices from Jan. 4, 2021, to Jan. 7, 2021.”

In a statement, Blackburn noted that companies have the right to challenge subpoenas by filing a motion to quash or raising objections. Her letters ask each carrier to explain by 5 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 16 who approved the decision to comply, why they chose not to contest the subpoenas, and what steps, if any, they took to protect lawmakers’ privacy.

Separately,  Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., said he expected answers from Verizon about the disclosure of his phone records, adding that he would “hold all responsible parties accountable.”

Verizon on Friday confirmed that it had provided the requested customer information and call records in response to subpoenas issued by the Department of Justice under Biden in September 2023.

“Federal law requires companies like Verizon to respond to grand-jury subpoenas,” the company told Reuters. “We received a valid subpoena and a court order to keep it confidential. We weren’t told why the information was requested or what the investigation was about.”

The allegations stem from materials released by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who said an internal FBI document confirmed the data collection was part of an inquiry code-named Arctic Frost.

Grassley gave floor remarks on Wednesday, referencing the briefing and calling what was disclosed “disturbing” and “outrageous political conduct by the Biden FBI.”

“This is obviously an outrage, obviously an unconstitutional breach, and Attorney General Bondi and Director Patel need to hold accountable those that are involved in that serious breach and wrongdoing,” Grassley said.

Under the investigation, the FBI targeted Blackburn and Hagerty, as well as Senators Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Josh Hawley, R-Mo., Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., Ron Johnson, R-Wis., Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., and House Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa.

Grassley’s oversight also exposed the FBI for acquiring President Donald Trump’s government cell phone before he was added as a subject of the investigation and for targeting nearly 100 Republican organizations and individuals as part of the Arctic Frost investigation. 

Grassley and Johnson led 16 colleagues Friday in demanding the DOJ and FBI produce all records related to “the Biden FBI’s targeting of lawmakers.”