Washington Examiner Senior Writer Joe Concha condemned Verizon because it “aided and abetted” special prosecutor Jack Smith in the surveillance of Republican lawmakers.
In 2023, Smith tracked the phones of Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Eric Schmitt (R-MO), Ashley Moody (R-FL), and Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Mike Kelly (R-PA). The surveillance fell under an FBI operation known as Arctic Frost.
“The most disturbing part is that a company like Verizon aided and abetted it secretly,” Concha said on Fox News’s Life, Liberty & Levin Sunday.
“You have high-ranking members … [who] saw Verizon tell the Biden Justice Department not only who Jordan was calling, but who was calling him, who was texting him, and even provided location details?” Concha continued. “And then a judge signed off on this and said that ‘Well, we’re going to keep this information from Jim Jordan,’ who was only the chair of the House Judiciary Committee. They said that he was [a] flight risk? What did they think he was going to do? Fly off to Venezuela to avoid extradition?”
Verizon spokesman Kevin Israel told the Washington Examiner that the company was complying with a court order surrounding the surrender of phone records.
“A court ordered Verizon not to tell anyone about that. We had no choice but to comply with the court order. So we did,” Israel said. “We’re now actively working with Chairman Jordan and relevant Senate committees on implementing a rigorous new protocol for subpoenas involving congressional members, requiring escalation to a senior Verizon leader prior to us taking any action.”
Concha implied that more victims of surveillance could be implicated in this operation, and therefore, former FBI Director Christopher Wray and former Attorney General Merrick Garland should testify to Congress regarding Arctic Frost. Smith has already agreed to testify before the House and Senate Judiciary Committees and even asked that his testimony be made public.
VERIZON TO CHANGE ITS POLICIES AFTER ARCTIC FROST SPYING REVELATIONS
Smith’s Jan. 6 case against then-candidate Trump was dismissed after Trump’s reelection last year.
Shortly after the election, Smith resigned from the DOJ. The prosecutors who worked under Smith were subsequently fired days after Trump’s inauguration.
