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Jack Smith Probe Reveals Fox News And Media Official Messages
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Jack Smith Probe Reveals Fox News And Media Official Messages

Fox News reported that investigators for former Special Counsel Jack Smith found records showing messages between nearly 50 journalists and Trump administration officials. Government officials traded messages with reporters from some of the nation's biggest news outlets in these files. The data was kept in files released by the National Archives after a request for material from 87 White House phones.

Reporters from Fox News appear among the groups listed in these seized records. According to RedState, CNN, CBS News (which includes "60 Minutes"), NBC News, and CNBC are also on the list. The Federalist, The Washington Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and The Associated Press were also part of the investigation.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley criticized the wide net cast by the investigation. "What will the partisan media say about this disgraceful government overreach?" he asked. He added that "This wasn't a normal prosecution by any means," according to Fox News. Grassley noted that the FBI and Justice Department ended up holding "reams" of personal data about "thousands" of Republicans.


This material was not shared in Smith's final report, the chairman said. Grassley stressed the small result despite the huge amount of data collected. "In the end, Mr. Smith indicted one person," he said, according to RedState. "That one person was President Trump, but in the process, [he] successfully mapped out the Republican apparatus."

Even with the wide scope of the seizure, news coverage of the issue stayed low. David Bozell told Fox News that "not one single broadcast network aired one solitary second" about Smith's alleged watching of conservative senators and groups. The Media Research Center was also named as a group caught in the probe.

Records show the investigation was "[p]rompted by NARA's discovery of classified documents in the 15 boxes in January 2022 and a criminal referral from NARA in February 2022," according to The Daily Caller. A report from the National Archives and Records Administration said the matter had "little likelihood of being pursued as a criminal matter."

FBI messages show that officials were handling the matter inside the agency. One message read, "Here is the official PIN response to us after we had that meeting with them last week which we briefed you on," per The Daily Caller. The message added that the FBI and AUSA Jay Bratt were handling the issue, though the text stops before describing the final result.

These records confirm a wide collection of private messages during a political investigation. The files link major news outlets directly to the White House phones under review. The Washington Times stated that the investigation gathered "communications" from news media members, covering major newspapers and networks. The huge amount of data collected raises serious questions about the limits of federal power.

One group identified as having been caught in the probe was the Media Research Center, Fox News said. The investigation touched nearly every part of the national news landscape. The records show that thousands of Republicans had their personal information gathered without a single extra indictment.

Written by Arthur Higgens - September 30, 2026