Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn has asked the CEOs of AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile to clarify their role in providing phone data to the Justice Department during the investigation of the January 6 Capitol attack. The inquiry comes after Senate Republicans revealed that the FBI accessed “toll records” from several senators’ phones in 2023.
Verizon confirmed compliance with a subpoena, stating that federal law required it to provide the requested records while keeping the matter confidential. The subpoenas reportedly sought data on calls made between January 4 and 7, 2021, as part of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s probe into Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election results.
The case was later dropped after Trump’s 2024 election victory, though Smith maintained the collected evidence was strong enough for conviction. FCC Chair Brendan Carr has pledged to review the situation, signaling continued scrutiny over privacy and government surveillance.
