在听证会最具争议的部分之一，加利福尼亚州共和党众议员达雷尔·伊萨（Darrell Issa）就史密斯作为特别检察官调查的一部分所寻求的所谓“暂停记录”（tolling records）向其施压，该调查包括调查特朗普涉嫌试图颠覆2020年选举结果的行为。
与窃听不同，“暂停记录”是电话记录，显示来电和去电的电话号码、通话时间和时长。近几个月来，共和党人一直紧盯这些暂停记录，抨击它们是史密斯采取的激进策略和“政治武器化”行为，对此史密斯予以强烈否认。
伊萨尤其抨击史密斯决定寻求众议院和参议院共和党议员的暂停记录——他周四表示，这相当于对其政治“敌人”进行监视。
史密斯为自己辩护称，寻求暂停记录在这类调查中是“常规做法”。
“也许他们不是你的政治敌人，但他们肯定是乔·拜登的政治敌人，对吧？”伊萨问史密斯。“他们是哈里斯的政治敌人，”他提到这位前副总统时补充道。“他们是总统的敌人——而你是他们的帮凶，不是吗？”
“不，”史密斯回答。
“所以，你（监视了众议院议长）和其他参议员等等，而且没有通知任何人——事实上还下达了封口令——让他们无法发现此事，”伊萨说。
史密斯试图回应，但伊萨继续追问。
“为什么国会，一个你根据宪法必须尊重的独立分支——为什么不应该通知任何人——包括法官？”伊萨施压道。“当你去监视这些人时，你是否提到过你在监视，[你在]寻求记录以便了解美国众议院议长和总统之间的谈话发生在何时？”
“你通知法官了吗？”伊萨继续问道。“还是你隐瞒了这一点？”
“我的办公室没有监视任何人，”史密斯说，伊萨随即打断。
“等一下，”他尖锐地插话。“我问你的问题，史密斯先生，非常直接。”
在史密斯再次回应之前，该小组的少数党民主党议员、众议员杰米·拉斯金（Jamie Raskin）插话向众议院司法委员会主席吉姆·乔丹（Jim Jordan）提出请求。
“主席先生，请你指示这位先生允许证人回答问题，”他说。“证人有权回答问题。”
史密斯此前表示，公共诚信部已批准传票，这一点得到了此前公布的公共记录的证实。这些记录还显示，公共诚信部曾告诫检察官要警惕议员可能提出的关于宪法言论或辩论条款的担忧，该条款为国会成员提供了额外保护。
向电话公司发出的传票附有封口令，禁止议员在至少一年内了解传票的存在。
史密斯此前在闭门听证会上告诉众议院议员，批准封口令的华盛顿特区联邦法院不会意识到这些封口令适用于国会议员。
“我认为我们没有意识到这一点，因为我认为当时部门政策并没有明确这一点，”史密斯说。
在较早的闭门证词中，当被问及对那些认为获取其少量电话数据侵犯宪法权利的议员应如何问责时，史密斯表示特朗普应被追究责任。
“这些记录涉及人员，就参议员而言，唐纳德·特朗普指示他的同谋者联系这些人以进一步拖延诉讼程序，”史密斯说。
“是他选择这么做的。如果唐纳德·特朗普选择联系多名民主党参议员，我们也会获取这些民主党参议员的暂停记录。所以，我们收集这些记录的原因——责任在于唐纳德·特朗普，”他当时表示。
布雷安妮·德皮施（Breanne Deppisch）是福克斯新闻数字版的全国政治记者，报道特朗普政府，重点关注司法部、联邦调查局和其他全国性新闻。她此前曾在《华盛顿观察家报》和《华盛顿邮报》报道全国政治，还在《政治杂志》、《科罗拉多公报》等媒体发表过文章。您可以通过Breanne.Deppisch@fox.com向她提供线索，或在X平台关注她@breanne_dep。
Former special counsel Jack Smith spent hours publicly defending the parameters of his investigation into President Donald Trump on Thursday in the face of sharp questions from Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee — including one lawmaker in particular who repeatedly accused Smith of “spying” on certain lawmakers.
During one of the most contentious portions of the hearing, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., pressed Smith over the so-called “tolling records” Smith sought as part of the special counsel investigation, which included investigating Trump’s alleged attempts to subvert the results of the 2020 election.
Unlike wiretaps, tolling records are phone logs that reveal the phone numbers of incoming and outgoing callers, as well as the time and duration of calls. Republicans have zeroed in on the tolling records in recent months, blasting them as an aggressive tactic by Smith and an act of “political weaponization,” which Smith vehemently denied.
Issa, in particular, excoriated Smith for the decision to seek the tolling records of Republicans in the House and Senate — which he said Thursday was tantamount to spying on his political “enemies.”
Smith, for his part, defended the tolling records as “common practice” in such investigations.
“Maybe they’re not your political enemies, but they sure as [heck] were Joe Biden’s poltiical enemies, weren’t they?” Issa asked Smith. “They were Harris’s political enemies,” he said, referring to the former vice president. “They were the enemies of the president — and you were their arm, weren’t you?”
“No,” Smith said.
“So, you [spied on the speaker of the House] and these other senators and so on, and informed no one — and in fact, put a gag order in — so they couldn’t discover it,” Issa said.
Smith attempted to respond before Issa continued.
“Why did Congress, a separate branch that you, under the Constitution, have to respect — why is it that no one should be informed — including the judges?” Issa pressed. “As you went in to spy on these people, did you mention that you were spying on, [that you were] seeking records so you could find out about when conversations occurred between the U.S. Speaker of the House and the president?”
“Did you inform the judge?” Issa continued. “Or did you hold that back?”
“My office didn’t spy on anyone,” Smith said, before Issa cut back in.
“Wait a second,” he interjected sharply. “The question I asked you, Mr. Smith, was pretty straightforward.”
Before Smith could respond again, the panel’s ranking Democrat, Rep. Jamie Raskin, interjected to address House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan.
“Mr. Chairman, would you please instruct the gentleman to allow the witness to answer the question?” he said. “The witness has the right to answer the question.”
Smith previously said that the Public Integrity Section had signed off on the subpoenas, a point corroborated by previously released public records. Those records also showed that the Public Integrity Section told prosecutors to be wary of concerns lawmakers could raise about the Constitution’s speech or debate clause, which gives Congress members added protections.
The subpoenas to the phone companies were accompanied by gag orders blocking the lawmakers from learning about the existence of the subpoenas for at least one year.
Smith previously told the House lawmakers in a closed-door hearing that the D.C. federal court, which authorized the gag orders, would not have been aware that they applied to Congress members.
“I don’t think we identified that, because I don’t think that was Department policy at the time,” Smith said.
Asked during the earlier deposition about who should be held accountable for lawmakers who felt that the seizure of a narrow set of their phone data was a constitutional violation, Smith said Trump should be held accountable.
“These records are people, in the case of the Senators, Donald Trump directed his co-conspirators to call these people to further delay the proceedings,” Smith said.
“He chose to do that. If Donald Trump had chosen to call a number of Democratic senators, we would have gotten toll records for Democratic Senators. So responsibility for why these records, why we collected them, that’s — that lies with Donald Trump,” he said at the time.
Breanne Deppisch is a national politics reporter for Fox News Digital covering the Trump administration, with a focus on the Justice Department, FBI and other national news. She previously covered national politics at the Washington Examiner and The Washington Post, with additional bylines in Politico Magazine, the Colorado Gazette and others. You can send tips to Breanne at Breanne.Deppisch@fox.com, or follow her on X at @breanne_dep.
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