WASHINGTON — The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee is demanding his colleagues across the aisle apologize to former special counsel Jack Smith after Missouri Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt launched false accusations at a recent hearing and called the former Justice Department official a “dirtbag.”

Committee ranking member Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., accused his Republican counterparts in a letter Wednesday of violating committee rules for presenting records they say supported accusations against Smith at the Sept. 29 hearing. Committee Democrats, Durbin said, did not have a chance to review the records in advance or later.

“We request that you immediately provide these and all other documents that you have withheld, commit to fully complying with Senate rules in the future, and apologize to Mr. Smith on behalf of the Committee for the unacceptable personal attacks and false accusations of perjury he faced during this hearing,” Durbin wrote in the letter to GOP Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa, first reported by Politico.

Durbin specifically highlighted a poster displayed by Schmitt’s staff purporting to show text messages between Smith and security personnel about his attendance at an Atlanta Hawks NBA game. Schmitt intimated the messages were proof that Smith had been in Atlanta during a development in the Fulton County, Georgia, election interference case against then-former President Donald Trump. 

Two staff members behind Schmitt quickly flashed the poster before the senator accused Smith of perjury for denying attendance at the game and said the former prosecutor will be remembered “as a total dirtbag.”

Democrats on the panel asked for, but did not receive, copies so that they and Smith could view the poster’s contents more clearly. 

The accusations were immediately debunked in real-time during the hearing when Smith said he recalled being at a University of Maryland women’s basketball game against the University of Iowa to see the popular Iowa player Caitlin Clark on the date in question.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., then clarified that Schmitt had confused the Iowa Hawkeyes with the Atlanta Hawks, in a humiliating moment for Schmitt that quickly spread on social media.

The situation, and lack of shared records, “caused needless confusion, slowed down the business of the Committee, introduced the possibility that false information would be entered uncontested into the record, and created an embarrassing stain on one of the most important committees in Congress,” Durbin wrote.

“While Senator Klobuchar successfully clarified that Mr. Smith had attended a basketball game in a different state on the date in question, and subsequent reporting confirmed the same, Senator Schmitt has since doubled down on his false assertions. He has continued to publicly call Mr. Smith a liar and ‘dirtbag,’” Durbin continued, citing repeated comments from Schmitt to news media following the hearing.

The Republican-led hearing, titled “Oversight of Jack Smith’s Abuse of Authority and the Targeting of Republicans and Related Matters,” followed nearly two years of allegations by Grassley that the former special counsel improperly collected phone records of dozens of members of Congress during his probe of Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Grassley has also accused Smith of collecting information on Republican-affiliated organizations and individuals.

The insurrection followed Trump’s alleged conspiracy to create fake electors to swing the 2020 presidential election in his favor.

Smith denies any wrongdoing.

In an apparent response to the letter, Grassley posted on X just after 12:30 p.m. Eastern Thursday that “Jack Smith should apologize for taking the bank records of 42 Iowans & 4,782 Americans.”

When asked earlier for a response to Durbin’s letter, a spokesperson for Grassley pointed States Newsroom to the Iowa senator’s Sept. 29 comments about the hearing to Newsmax’s “The Record with Greta Van Susteren.” The comments did not include an apology. 

“I think that we learned through the thousands of pages that I’ve released to the public that Jack Smith was a tool of the Biden administration to put Trump in prison. (Trump) was the only one indicted, but the records that we (made) public today, and a few days ago, show that he swept at least 400 Republican organizations into his investigation, and 44 members of Congress by subpoenaing their phone records,” Grassley told the conservative media outlet.

In a response to Durbin’s letter on Friday, Grassley said committee Democrats “have run roughshod over Committee rules” in the past.

“I need not remind you that my oversight of this matter is years in the making, has been supported by courageous whistleblowers who came to my office concerned about the rotten political bias at the heart of Jack Smith’s investigation, and has been transparent with the American people and my Democratic colleagues from the get-go,” Grassley wrote in a four-page letter.

The Iowa Republican continued later in the letter: “Contrary to your misguided statement, the major embarrassment of the hearing was Democrats falling over themselves defending unlawful and unconstitutional actions by Jack Smith.”

The letter did not contain an apology, and Grassley said Democrats have been provided with thousands of pages of records and are invited to his office next week to review records Durbin specified in his letter.

Grassley further accused committee Democrats of failing to cooperate on previous investigations, including a 2020 COVID-19 matter, an inquiry into Hunter Biden and the vetting of Trump’s former personal attorney who now sits on the federal bench.

Schmitt’s office did not immediately respond for comment.

Durbin’s letter also requested records from Sen. Josh Hawley, also a Missouri Republican. Hawley’s office did not immediately respond for comment.

WASHINGTON — Former special counsel Jack Smith on Tuesday defended before a U.S. Senate panel his past investigations of President Donald Trump’s possession of classified documents and alleged role in attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Judiciary Committee Republicans repeatedly dissected Smith’s work and accused him of weaponizing the Department of Justice. In a heated exchange, Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., labeled Smith a “total dirtbag” and alleged he had perjured himself when Schmitt asked if Smith was in Atlanta on Feb. 3, 2024, during a separate sensitive election investigation development in Fulton County, Georgia. Smith said he was not there.

But it became clear Schmitt had bungled the accusations against Smith by mixing up the names of the Atlanta Hawks and Iowa Hawkeyes basketball teams, and the back-and-forth went viral on social media. Smith had attended a University of Maryland Terrapins game against the Hawkeyes, not a Hawks game, on the date in question.

 

 

Smith said in his opening statement he “will not be silenced” by threats, including Trump’s calls for his prosecution.

“I stand by my decisions as special counsel, including my decision to bring charges against President Trump,” Smith said. “I made those decisions without regard to President Trump’s political association, activities, beliefs, or candidacy in the 2024 presidential election.”

“Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in serious crimes against our nation,” Smith said.

Grassley: not ‘normal prosecution’

The hearing comes nearly two years after committee Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, alleged the former special counsel improperly collected phone records of dozens of members of Congress during his probe of Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The insurrection followed Trump’s alleged conspiracy to create fake electors to swing the 2020 presidential election in his favor.

Smith denies any wrongdoing.

In his opening remarks, Grassley argued Smith’s investigation “ultimately wasn’t just about Trump.”

“It was about partisan agents and prosecutors mapping out the Republican apparatus,” Grassley said.

“This wasn’t a normal prosecution by any means. Yet today, you will certainly hear from Democrats that it was. Importantly, Mr. Smith has claimed his focus was on January 6, but his own conduct contradicts that,” Grassley said moments later, citing subpoenas for records before and after the date of Jan. 6, 2021, and those that included Republican interest groups.

Durbin says ‘nothing untoward’

Democrats dismissed the hearing’s premise and repeatedly evoked memories of evacuating the U.S. Senate while a mob of Trump supporters violently overran law enforcement and attacked the U.S. Capitol.

Ranking member Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said attacks on Smith “are nothing but a smokescreen to distract from the president’s own clear unlawful conduct.”

“Let me be clear: there was nothing untoward about special counsel Smith and his fellow prosecutors conducting this investigation. The aspersions cast on Mr. Smith nonstop are petty, personal, and political,” Durbin said.

Sen. Cory Booker, who is speculated to be eyeing a presidential run in 2028, said the hearing amounted to “gaslighting the American people.”

The New Jersey Democrat said the scenario “should be chilling to every American that the commander-in-chief … did everything he could to undermine the legal transfer of power, incited a riot, which several Republicans said he did, and we’re now persecuting the prosecutors who followed the evidence.”

Kennedy, Cruz attack Smith

But Senate Republicans maintained accusations that the Biden administration targeted Trump for prosecution just days after he announced he would challenge then-President Joe Biden in the 2024 presidential election.

Sen. John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, asked Smith if he told then-Attorney General Merrick Garland that he intended to prosecute the former president.

“I did so twice,” Smith answered.

“And the attorney general checked with President Biden. Is that right?” Kennedy asked.

“I have absolutely no idea,” Smith said, adding that he made an “independent decision” to prosecute.

“I made that decision on my own, consulting with my staff and reviewing the incredibly strong evidence that we had,” he said.

Kennedy also accused Smith of partisanship for only seeking phone records of Republicans during his investigation.

“The toll records that we sought were relevant to the investigation,” Smith told Kennedy, referring to historical logs that reveal time and duration of calls rather than content.

 

 

“Were you in the quad playing frisbee during (constitutional) law at Harvard Law School?” Kennedy asked, accusing Smith of violating the speech and debate clause that protects members of Congress.

“You make me want to throw up in my mouth,” Kennedy said.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who is widely considered a potential 2028 Republican presidential candidate, also attacked non-disclosure orders Smith obtained to keep the phone record subpoenas confidential.

Smith maintains he sought the orders in compliance with the law.

“Let me say congratulations, because you have succeeded where Richard Nixon failed, which is weaponizing the Department of Justice and the federal government to go after your political opponents,” Cruz said.

Details on the ‘dirtbag’ back-and-forth

The viral exchange with Schmitt came about when he falsely accused Smith of being in Atlanta when Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who was prosecuting Trump on a separate election conspiracy case, admitted she had a romantic relationship with a special prosecutor. 

As his proof, Schmitt’s aide briefly displayed a large poster containing alleged texts between staff members about Smith’s attendance at an NBA game between the Atlanta Hawks and Golden State Warriors.

Smith said he could not recall going to an NBA game in Atlanta, or even visiting the city during his time as special prosecutor.

“I don’t think you know that we have this stuff, so I’ll give you a moment to process it so you don’t perjure yourself,” Schmitt said.

“You just took it down really quick, if I could look at that again,” Smith said. 

When Durbin requested Schmitt provide Smith with a copy of the alleged texts, the Missouri Republican moved on to his next question and said “I think you’ve already perjured yourself.”

Wrapping up his questioning, Schmitt said, “You may think you’re a hero in this story, but let me tell you something, you’re a villain. … You will go down as a total dirtbag.”

Booker, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., prodded Schmitt to display the poster board again and provide a copy.

Smith said he recalled being at a University of Maryland women’s basketball game against the University of Iowa to see the popular Iowa player Caitlin Clark.

“Could it be the Iowa Hawkeyes then … Perhaps you should have looked at it more carefully?” Klobuchar said to Schmitt. 

Schmitt criticized Klobuchar for interjecting before being officially called on for questioning.

“I’m gonna begin my questioning now, but I think that people should have their facts straight before they accuse someone of being a dirtbag,” Klobuchar said.

How the Trump cases turned out

Trump fought Smith’s prosecutions and claimed in court he was entitled to presidential immunity for any of his actions surrounding the 2020 election.

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed in early 2024.

Smith dropped the election conspiracy case after Trump won the presidential election in November 2024.

Months prior, a Florida federal judge dismissed Smith’s case alleging Trump hoarded sensitive government documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate after leaving office in 2021. 

Judge Aileen Cannon threw out the case in July 2024 on the grounds that the Biden administration illegally appointed Smith.

WASHINGTON — A vast and growing network of artificial intelligence-driven Flock cameras could violate constitutional privacy rights, U.S. senators on a Judiciary Committee subcommittee said during a Wednesday hearing.

GOP Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, the chair of the Crime and Counterterrorism Subcommittee, said the point of the hearing was to find out “what is going on with the expanding surveillance network that appears to be going coast to coast in this country.”

Hawley said he invited the CEO of Flock Safety to testify, but he did not appear. 

Senators heard from a woman wrongly arrested over a fatal car crash after a Flock camera captured a photo of her vehicle three miles from the crash site.

They speculated that more people could be falsely accused based on inaccurate information gathered by the devices. They also said Fourth Amendment violations were likely because the law enforcement agencies that use the service are able to use the data to track movements without a warrant.  

“If you haven’t heard of Flock, all I have to say is Flock’s probably heard of you,” Hawley said. “I’m sure we’re all in the database.”

Flock did not respond to States Newsroom’s request for comment. 

What is Flock?

Flock cameras track and record every motor vehicle that comes into view, including its license plate number, make, model, bumper stickers and color. They can also capture images of people.  

The information is then uploaded to a database that any law enforcement agency that contracts with the company can access without a warrant. 

There are more than 120,000 Flock cameras installed across the country from highways to outside grocery stores, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. The only U.S. state that does not have a Flock camera is Hawaii.

Media outlets such as The Washington Post have documented abuses of the service, including law enforcement officers using the devices to stalk ex-girlfriends.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has also tapped into Flock data through local law enforcement officials to read license plates for immigration-related searches, even though Flock denies having a contract with ICE. 

The backlash to the possibility of mass surveillance has been strong, with NPR reporting vandalization of Flock cameras.

Arizona sheriff brushed off, he says

One of the witnesses at Wednesday’s hearing, Ross Teeple, the sheriff of Pinal County, Arizona, said he ultimately decided to end a contract with Flock because he had raised privacy concerns the company did not adequately address. 

Some of his constituents said they were worried that people could be identified in images taken by Flock cameras. He said when he asked the company about how people could be clearly seen in the images, he felt the company brushed aside his concerns and told him the image resolution was not good enough to recognize a person.

“I’m looking at camera pictures where I could recognize the person on the camera, but that was their claim …, and there was just too much disinformation from them and dishonesty,” he said. “I was trying to get answers from them, and they would not give me answers… and there were too many concerns. So we just decided not to continue our contract.”

False accusation

Hawley said his main worries were personal privacy and that people have the right to be treated as innocent until proven guilty. 

He pointed to one of the witnesses, Lindsey Isaacs of Florida, who was wrongly accused of being involved in a car accident that killed three people because a Flock automated license plate recognition camera saw her vehicle about three miles west of the crash scene. 

The car involved in the crash was a Dodge Durango, the same make and model as Isaacs’. But hers was black, while the car in the crash was maroon, as described by a witness. 

Law enforcement still arrested her at her home. 

She spent three days in solitary confinement and then moved to another maximum-security unit for 10 days before she was released and state prosecutors dropped charges, she told the panel.

“In my case, a Flock camera captured my vehicle a few miles from the scene of a terrible crash,” she said. “That piece of information became part of an investigation that ultimately led to my arrest on three counts of vehicular homicide and 13 days in jail for a crash I had nothing to do with.”

Hawley said what he finds “so troubling” is that many drivers or people walking by are being surveilled and they’ve done nothing wrong. 

“It sounds as if, based on the reports we’ve heard, it’s treating every citizen in America, I mean, by now, surely almost all of us have been scanned and logged as if we are criminals, yet without any due process, without any reasonable suspicion, without any articulable suspicion whatsoever,” he said. “This just seems very, very strange, to put it mildly, and something I think this committee really needs to hear about.”

Abortion tracking

New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker asked if Flock cameras could be used to track women in states with strict abortion laws.

ACLU’s Chad Marlow, senior policy counsel, said that it would be easy to track people searching for those services. 

Hawley agreed with Booker and also questioned how easy it would be to create a database of certain people, such as those who attend gun shows.

“When you have this amount of data available, the temptations to use it are going to be absolutely incredible, if not irresistible,” he said. 

Marlow said the scenarios that Booker and Hawley cited are closer than they think. 

“If you build it, they will come,” he said. “I so much appreciate that you’re bringing (up) abortion care seekers and gun owners because they are part of the same community when it comes to the threat of mass surveillance. This is something we need to be worried about because when you create the temptation, when you create the option for population control, at some point someone’s going to use it.”

WASHINGTON — Republicans on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee used a hearing Wednesday to continue voicing opposition to transgender athletes competing in women’s sports, which the top Democrat on the panel called a distraction from cost-of-living issues voters are more concerned about.

Republicans, vying to defend their majority in the House and Senate in the midterm elections less than six weeks away, have pursued a broad anti-trans agenda alongside President Donald Trump’s administration. Republicans on  Wednesday framed the issue as protecting women’s sports. 

“Biological women should not be asked to accommodate men who, for reasons of identity or otherwise, choose to compete in (the) women’s category instead of (the) men’s or co-ed category,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley, chair of the Judiciary panel. 

“Women were last to get the vote, to participate in professions, to serve on juries, get credit cards in their own names and so much more,” the Iowa Republican said. “Women should not again be asked to cede their opportunities just to make men comfortable.” 

The GOP-led panel brought in advocates, who spoke out against transgender athletes’ participation in sports that align with their gender identity. 

Dems absent

Democrats on the panel largely sat the hearing out, drawing the ire of GOP members.

In the only statement by a Democrat during the hearing, the panel’s ranking member, Sen. Dick Durbin, used his opening remarks to question his GOP counterparts’ priorities amid Americans’ affordability concerns. 

“If you ask the American people, ‘What are the priority issues you hope Congress will address as soon as possible?’ the issue of this hearing would not be in the top 10, maybe not the top 20,” the Illinois Democrat said. 

“People are concerned about the cost of living, they’re concerned about the ability to pay for the college education of their kids, they’re concerned about their utility bills, they’re concerned about their grocery bills — they want to know what we’re doing about it,” he added. 

Republicans on the panel noted Democrats’ absence.

“Not one member on the other side of the aisle has had the respect for women to come in here and ask questions, to figure out how we get this right, how we stand up for fairness, for safety, for an opportunity for young women across the country,” GOP Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama said at the hearing. “It’s absolutely absurd.”

But Durbin pointed to a similar 2024 hearing that saw NCAA President Charlie Baker tell senators that of the more than half-million total athletes in NCAA schools, he knew of fewer than 10 who were transgender. 

“We can all agree that we want to be fair and safe in women’s athletics, but this vendetta against a small number of people in the trans community affects everyone, including cisgender girls who can be subject to inappropriate gender verification checks,” Durbin said. 

At a press conference after the hearing, GOP Sens. Ashley Moody of Florida, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Darline Graham of South Carolina and Britt, along with several athletes and advocates, continued to blast the inclusion of trans athletes on women’s sports teams. 

“It shouldn’t be complicated,” Moody said. “Men do not belong in women’s sports. Women’s sports exist for a reason, and if we’re going to have women’s sports, we must protect women’s sports.”

Hot topic

The issue has been the subject of intense debate in recent years.

The House passed a bill in January 2025 that would bar trans students’ participation in women’s school sports teams consistent with their gender identity. 

But Senate Democrats blocked an effort in March of that year aimed at imposing such a ban and codifying Trump’s 2025 executive order on the issue. 

The U.S. Supreme Court in June upheld state laws banning transgender athletes from participating on women’s and girls’ sports teams.

The court’s decision — which has no impact on states without such bans — marked a major setback for transgender rights across the nation. 

Meanwhile, a major bipartisan bill to regulate college athletes’ compensation and establish additional protections for women’s and Olympic sports continues to advance in the Senate.

Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee Republicans have made clear that the bill would not preempt state laws regarding the participation of trans athletes in women’s sports.