Former Us Special Counsel Jack Smith Attends A Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing On Capitol Hill In Washington Dc Us Septemb
GOP Senator Sues Former Special Counsel Jack Smith Over Phone Records and ‘Arctic Frost’ Codename
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against former Special Counsel Jack Smith, accusing him of targeting her phone records and claiming he used a codename designed to mock former President Donald Trump’s skin tone.
The lawsuit, filed in a Tennessee federal court by the New Civil Liberties Alliance, targets Smith personally. Seeking just $1 in nominal damages alongside an order for the Justice Department to return her phone records, the complaint arrives one day after Smith testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The filing alleges that the probe into Trump—codenamed “Arctic Frost”—was chosen specifically as a nod to an orange variety to mock Trump’s complexion.
However, the lawsuit offers no primary sources for this claim and does not specify who selected the moniker. Public records show the FBI opened the “Arctic Frost” investigation prior to Smith’s appointment as special counsel in November 2022.
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At the core of Blackburn’s legal challenge is a May 2023 subpoena issued to Verizon requesting her phone logs from the period around January 6, 2021.
Blackburn contends that prosecutors failed to inform the court that the records belonged to a sitting senator, effectively denying her the opportunity to challenge the subpoena under the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause.
Blackburn’s attorneys argue that because Smith’s appointment was never confirmed by the Senate, he acted as a “mere private citizen,” enabling them to bring claims under an 1871 civil rights law. The lawsuit also links the phone records request to her formal endorsement of Trump a month prior.
Smith has repeatedly defended the subpoenas as essential steps to examine communications regarding efforts to delay the certification of the 2020 election results.
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