U.S. Senators Katie Britt, Chuck Grassley, Colleagues Press Verizon for Failure to Disclose Arctic Frost Subpoenas to Congress

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), and 14 of their Senate colleagues sent a letter pressing Verizon for details on its decision to hand over senators’ phone toll records to Special Counsel Jack Smith and the company’s failure to disclose its actions to affected members of Congress. The Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile CEOs were called to testify before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law earlier this year. 

In October 2023, Senate Judiciary Chairman Grassley asked Verizon to search for all requests or orders made by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) or any federal law enforcement agency between January 2016 and October 2023 related to Senate devices and Crossfire Hurricane. In its response, Verizon did not list the Arctic Frost subpoena requests Smith issued to Verizon to access senators’ toll records during that timeframe. Senators Britt, Grassley, and their colleagues are seeking clarification as to whether Verizon discovered the Arctic Frost subpoena requests in 2023 during its search for member devices and, if so, why Verizon didn’t disclose the information at that time.

The letter demands full clarity into Verizon’s conduct, requesting answers on the previous subpoena, what actions were taken to address it, and the dates on which the company learned that it provided tolling data on members of Congress to Jack Smith’s team.

Senator Britt has demanded answers regarding the Arctic Frost investigation, previously sending letters to four telecommunications companies, including Verizon, requesting all records that were handed to former Special Counsel Jack Smith as part of his elector case against President Trump. 

During a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing in April 2026, Britt argued, “We’ve heard it here today and [Jack Smith’s] team’s use of nondisclosure orders throughout the course of the Arctic Frost investigation. This includes when such orders were sought and granted to accompany subpoenas related to the toll records of multiple members of this body. Many have argued those NDOs likely violated existing federal law that prohibits the use of NDOs on subpoenas involving Senate devices. The fact that at least one telecom provider, AT&T, refused to comply with that subpoena, and the Smith team didn’t push back, is evidence that they probably knew that their requests were illegal in the first place.”

The letter was also cosigned by U.S. Senators Ron Johnson (R-Wis.)*, Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.)*, Rick Scott (R-Fla.)*, Mike Lee (R-Utah)*, Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.)*, Ted Cruz (R-Texas)*, Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.)*, Ashley Moody (R-Fla.), John Kennedy (R-La.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.)*, Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), Darline Graham (R-S.C.), John Cornyn (R-Texas)*, and Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.)*.

*Denotes a senator who had his or her phone toll records and/or text messages swept up by Jack Smith.  

You can read the full letter here.

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