AT&T Turned Kevin McCarthy’s Cellphone Records over to Jack Smith

Special counsel Jack Smith received phone records of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy from AT&T during his investigation into the Jan. 6 riot on Capitol Hill.

Last week, Fox News initially reported that Smith “subpoenaed AT&T for McCarthy’s records, but AT&T told Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley that the company had not shared any of the former speaker’s phone records.”

The outlet then obtained a letter that AT&T sent to Grassley stating that the former House Speaker’s files had been shared with Jack Smith:

Smith, on January 24, 2023, allegedly searched “toll records for the personal cell phones of Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy (AT&T) and U.S. Representative Louie Gohmert (Verizon.).”

The information was included as part of a “Significant Case Notification” issued by the FBI’s Criminal Investigation Division on May 25, 2023.

AT&T, however, informed Grassley that the company had received a subpoena for McCarthy’s records in January 2023, separate from the May 2023 subpoena for other tolling records, and allegedly inadvertently provided these personal cell phone records to Smith.

AT&T said the subpoena “sought records for a personal cell phone number” and that it did not indicate “in any way that the information sought pertained to any member of Congress.”

“We identified (the subpoena) yesterday as such based on the telephone number listed in the subpoena,” the company said. “Based on this new filing, we are writing to correct our response of October 24, 2025, which was based on a reasonable review of our records at that time.”

“AT&T’s Global Legal Demand Center receives hundreds of thousands of legal requests each year, and unlike the May 2023 subpoena discussed in our October 24 response, the subpoena we produced today did not seek to obtain any campaign account records,” it continues. “Instead, as news reports confirmed, the subpoena sought records of a personal cell phone number. It also made no indication that the information sought related to a member of Congress.”