Congress/Oversight

AT&T told Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley it received a Jan. 23, 2023 grand‑jury subpoena from Special Counsel Jack Smith, processed the nondisclosure‑gagged request and produced then‑House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s personal cellphone toll records after its processing center did not realize the number belonged to a member of Congress, correcting an earlier denial. The disclosure is tied to Smith’s “Arctic Frost” election probe — his lawyers say the subpoenas sought only toll‑record metadata for Jan. 4–7, 2021 — and has prompted GOP outrage, calls for investigations, and legislative moves on notice and redress.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said she has assigned U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton in the Southern District of New York to investigate Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged ties to Bill Clinton and other figures named by former President Trump — including Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman and JPMorgan Chase — saying the department will pursue the matter with “urgency and integrity” and that the probe was prompted by “new information.” The move followed Trump’s public demand for probes and has been met with context and pushback: an FBI memo earlier said investigators found no evidence to predicate probes of uncharged third parties, JPMorgan said it ended its relationship with Epstein years earlier and regretted any association, and Bondi declined to give a timeline or say whether document releases would be affected.