Former special counsel Jack Smith gathered reporters’ private messages as part of his “Arctic Frost” investigation, according to a whistleblower disclosure to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA).

The records show Smith’s team received communications involving reporters from more than a dozen national news organizations while investigating President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The messages were produced by the National Archives in response to a June 2023 subpoena seeking records associated with 87 phones used by officials in Trump’s first White House.