'Shutdown Deal Lets GOP Senators Personally Sue Over Jack Smith Probe'

[sop]

"$500K For Election Subversion"

"Tucked into a spending bill that is part of the deal to end the government shutdown is a provision that would allow GOP senators to personally sue the federal government for as much as $500,000 over Special Counsel Jack Smith’s lawful search of their phone records, according to the NYT."

"As part of his Jan. 6 investigation, Smith properly subpoenaed the toll records of some GOP members of Congress. In recent weeks, Republicans on the Hill have resurfaced this fact and morphed it into a Deep State conspiracy theory, exaggerating what Smith obtained and trying to turn it into a constitutional clash."

"District Judge James Boasberg of D.C. approved measures that barred phone providers from notifying lawmakers that their data from around Jan. 6 was requested as part of the investigation, Politico notes. The provision in the bill imposes new restrictions that would require senators to receive notice of their records being sought and bars judges from preventing that notice unless the senator is under criminal investigation."

"Most controversially, the provision in the bill retroactively allows senators targeted by Smith to sue the federal government, the NYT reports: 'Because the provision is retroactive to 2022, it would appear to make eligible the eight lawmakers whose phone records were subpoenaed by investigators for Mr. Smith as he examined efforts by Donald J. Trump to obstruct the results of the 2020 presidential election.' "

Continued at link:

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo/shutdown-deal-lets-gop-senators-personally-sue-over-jack-smith-probe