Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) is facing mounting Senate calls, including from members of his own party, to roll back a controversial provision tucked into the shutdown-ending funding bill that allows senators to sue the Justice Department for financial damages.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said Tuesday that he was inclined to support a repeal of the language, which allows senators to seek $500,000 or more if their communications are monitored without their knowledge.
Thune added the provision to the funding bill after the Justice Department obtained phone data, including call logs, of eight GOP senators as part of the Jan. 6 investigation, making Grassley’s openness to repeal all the more striking.
As chairman of the Judiciary Committee, he has taken a leading role in scrutinizing the Jan. 6 investigation and, like other Republicans, claims the Justice Department had “weaponized” its resources.
“I’m not going to give you a definitive answer until I hear from my colleagues on the Judiciary Committee,” Grassley told reporters, “but I think it was put in without proper consideration.”
Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), a member of Thune’s leadership team, was more forceful in his disapproval. He oversees the legislative branch funding bill where the provision appeared, but said he did not learn of its addition until after the shutdown bill passed.
“I do not support that at all,” Mullin said, arguing that the language should not apply to past investigations, given the optics of senators giving themselves the right to seek a large sum in damages. House Republicans have also denounced the language since it only addresses lawmakers in the upper chamber.
“I definitely do not think it should be retroactive,” Mullin told the Washington Examiner. “That was my biggest issue.”
On Tuesday, Thune defended the provision as a necessary update to the law meant to dissuade the Justice Department from future perceived abuses. The language also requires the DOJ to notify Congress if a senator is being investigated or if their records are being subpoenaed.
“I think the penalty is in place to ensure that in the future, if you get a Justice Department who did what Jack Smith did and weaponize the federal government against the Article 1 branch of government, or members of the Article 1 branch of government, there is a remedy in place, there’s a recourse in place,” Thune said, referring to the special counsel who led the Jan. 6 investigation.
Despite the backlash, Thune was noncommittal on whether the Senate would update or throw out the language as House Republicans prepare a vote on repeal for Wednesday.
“The House is going to do what they’re going to do with it. It didn’t apply to them,” Thune told reporters. “The law that was violated, it was a statute that only affected the Senate.”
The provision was negotiated and agreed upon by Thune and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in what lawmakers described as a last-minute attempt to address the Jack Smith investigation, known as “Arctic Frost.” The possibility of preventing the Trump administration from conducting similar surveillance is part of what brought Schumer on board.
But Schumer joined other Democrats on Tuesday in distancing himself from the provision, supporting its repeal as he claimed it was driven by Thune. Initially, there was “strong interest” among Senate Republicans in adding the language, a source familiar with the matter previously told the Washington Examiner.
“Thune wanted the provision, and we wanted to make sure that at least Democratic senators were protected from [Attorney General Pam Bondi] and others who might go after them, so we made it go prospective, not retroactive,” Schumer said. “But I’d be for repealing all of it — all of it. And I hope that happens.”
HOUSE LOOKS TO REMOVE GOP PROVISION THAT WOULD ALLOW SENATORS TO SUE OVER BIDEN DOJ INVESTIGATIONS
Senate Republicans began distancing themselves from the provision last week, shortly after its addition became widely reported. Several of the senators targeted in the Jan. 6 investigation, including Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Josh Hawley (R-MO), and Dan Sullivan (R-AK), have indicated they would not seek money.
However, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said he intended to, and Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) expressed openness.
