AT&T Says It Produced Kevin McCarthy’s Personal Cellphone Toll Records to Special Counsel During Jan. 6 Probe

AT&T has acknowledged that it produced personal toll records for then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to Special Counsel Jack Smith in response to a January 2023 grand jury subpoena, according to company correspondence with a U.S. senator and related court documents.

What AT&T says happened

In a letter to Sen. Chuck Grassley, AT&T said a review prompted by media reporting identified a Jan. 23, 2023 grand jury subpoena and an accompanying nondisclosure order that led the company to produce records tied to a personal cellphone number. The company said that, unlike a separate May 2023 request that sought campaign-related records, the January subpoena targeted a private personal number and did not indicate the account belonged to a member of Congress.

"The subpoena processing center had no reason to believe that the phone number was associated with a member of Congress," the company wrote, adding that its Global Legal Demand Center handles hundreds of thousands of legal demands each year and processes subpoenas as required.

Timeline and related review

Court filings and an FBI notification describe a Special Counsel request on Jan. 24, 2023 seeking "toll records for the personal cell phones of U.S. Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (AT&T) and U.S. Representative Louie Gohmert (Verizon)." The matter was later reflected in an FBI Criminal Investigative Division "significant case notification" dated May 25, 2023.

The disclosure about McCarthy’s records is part of a wider review of an FBI matter codenamed "Arctic Frost," which the bureau opened in April 2022. That review has examined how toll-data collection was conducted and whether appropriate safeguards were followed when requests potentially involved members of Congress.

Kevin McCarthy: "Jack Smith broke the law and seized my phone records as speaker of the House. If corrupt justice will do it to the speaker, they’ll do it to anyone. The DOJ has the authority and responsibility to hold him accountable."

Responses and context

McCarthy has publicly condemned the production of his records and called for accountability. Lawyers for Special Counsel Jack Smith have declined public comment on this specific disclosure; previously, Smith’s team defended toll-data subpoenas as "entirely proper" and consistent with Department of Justice policy. They said the collection was narrowly tailored to the four days surrounding Jan. 6, 2021 (Jan. 4–7, 2021).

Earlier reporting and related documentation indicate Smith’s team subpoenaed major telephone carriers in 2023 to collect toll records that included a number of lawmakers and aides. Named lawmakers who have been associated with related subpoenas include several Republican senators and at least one GOP representative. Congressional oversight inquiries by senators, including Sen. Grassley and Sen. Ron Johnson, are examining the matter and the broader procedural safeguards applied to these subpoenas.

Separately, the special counsel’s wider work on matters tied to Jan. 6 and the 2020 election has drawn scrutiny for scope and cost; publicly reported estimates place associated expenses at more than $50 million.

This account is based on publicly available correspondence and court filings, along with company statements provided to congressional offices and other documents produced during the ongoing review.