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GOP senator demands FBI reveal if surveillance went beyond Jack Smith’s phone tracking
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EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., is demanding information from the FBI on whether she has been subjected to additional surveillance, following revelations that former Special Counsel Jack Smith tracked her phone calls, calling the action «one of the most serious infringements on the separation of powers in American history.»
Fox News Digital first reported Monday that Smith and his «Arctic Frost» team investigating Jan. 6 allegedly monitored the phone calls of Lummis and fellow GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama and GOP Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania.
Fox News Digital exclusively obtained an FBI document stating the names of the lawmakers and that an FBI special agent on Smith’s team «conducted preliminary toll analysis» on the toll records associated with them.
JACK SMITH TRACKED PRIVATE COMMUNICATIONS, CALLS OF NEARLY A DOZEN GOP SENATORS DURING J6 PROBE, FBI SAYS
Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., is demanding information from the FBI on whether she has been further surveilled, following the revelations that former Special Counsel Jack Smith was tracking her phone calls. (Caroline Brehman/Pool/Sipa USA)
An FBI official told Fox News Digital that Smith and his team were able to view which phone numbers the senators called, along with the location each call originated and where it was received.
Lummis is now seeking more information on the matter, writing a letter to FBI Director Kash Patel thanking him, President Donald Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi for their «transparency regarding the blatantly unconstitutional surveillance activities conducted on the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives by the Biden Administration during Operation Arctic Frost.»
«Your willingness to expose these abuses is crucial to getting the FBI and Department of Justice focused back on its core mission of delivering justice for all,» she wrote in the letter to Patel, obtained by Fox News Digital.
Lummis is now demanding all FBI and DOJ records that identify which members of the Biden administration «authorized or approved the surveillance of my phone records and communications.»
FBI FIRES AGENTS, DISMANTLES CORRUPTION SQUAD AFTER PROBE UNVEILS MONITORING OF GOP SENATORS, PATEL SAYS
Lummis is asking for the names of all DOJ officials, FBI officials, and any White House officials involved; the entire data file collected on her, including all phone records and any recordings or transcripts of her private communications; any legal statutes cited to justify the data collection; and any individuals with whom the information was shared.
She is also requesting documentation of «any other surveillance conducted by the FBI or DOJ from January 20, 2021, through January 20, 2025, on me related to my official duties as a United States senator.»
Special Counsel Jack Smith tracked the private conversations of multiple Republican senators during the Jan. 6 investigation. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
«I believe that the surveillance of sitting United States Senators by the executive branch represents one of the most serious infringements on the separation of powers in American history,» she wrote. «It seriously impinges on both my civil rights and my constitutional duties as a legislator, especially since this surveillance was directly connected to core legislative activities protected by the Speech or Debate Clause of the United States Constitution.»
Lummis added that «the American people deserve to know the truth about how the Biden administration weaponized federal law enforcement against their elected representatives.»
«Those responsible will be held accountable,» she wrote. «Thank you for your prompt attention to these requests, and for restoring integrity to the FBI.»
«Arctic Frost» was opened inside the bureau on April 13, 2022. Smith was appointed as special counsel to take over the probe in November 2022.
An FBI official told Fox News Digital that «Arctic Frost» is a «prohibited case,» and that the review required officials to go «above and beyond in order to deliver on this promise of transparency.» The discovery is part of a broader, ongoing review.
«The American people deserve the truth, and under my leadership, they will have it,» Patel told Fox News Digital. «We promised accountability for those who weaponized law enforcement, and we will deliver it.»
Kash Patel is sworn in as FBI director by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi in the Indian Treaty Room in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building (EEOB) on the White House campus in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 21, 2025. (REUTERS/Leah Millis)
HAWLEY RIPS JACK SMITH’S ‘BIDEN’S STASI’ PROBE, CALLS ALLEGED SPYING ‘ABUSE OF POWER BEYOND WATERGATE’
Patel added: «Under our watch, the FBI will never again be turned against the American people.»
«It is a disgrace that I have to stand on Capitol Hill and reveal this — that the FBI was once weaponized to track the private communications of U.S. lawmakers for political purposes,» FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino, who briefed senators on the matter, told Fox News Digital. «That era is over.»
Bongino added: «Under our leadership, the FBI will never again be used as a political weapon against the American people.»
Meanwhile, the FBI has terminated employees and disbanded the CR-15 squad. Patel announced the actions were taken in response to the revelation of the «baseless monitoring» of U.S. lawmakers.
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«We are cleaning up a diseased temple three decades in the making — identifying the rot, removing those who weaponized law enforcement for political purposes and those who do not meet the standards of this mission while restoring integrity to the FBI. I promised reform, and I intend to deliver it,» Patel said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
Patel also posted about it on X, saying, «Transparency is important, and accountability is critical. We promised both, and this is what promises kept looks like… We terminated employees, we abolished the weaponized CR-15 squad, and we initiated an ongoing investigation with more accountability measures ahead.»
fbi,justice department,senate,politics
INTERNACIONAL
Mamdani taps controversial lawyer who defended al Qaeda terrorist for top role: ‘Powerful advocate’
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Socialist New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani announced on Tuesday that he is appointing controversial lawyer Ramzi Kassem, who defended al Qaeda terrorist Ahmed al-Darbi in court, as the city’s top attorney.
Mamdani, who will take office on Jan. 1, announced he was appointing Kassem as New York City’s chief counsel, the top legal role in the city. He also shared that he is appointing Steven Banks a self-proclaimed «social justice attorney» as corporation counsel and Helen Arteaga as deputy mayor for health and human services.
Kassem’s record includes serving as a senior policy advisor for immigration on the White House Domestic Policy Council under former President Joe Biden.
Kassem served as lead counsel in al-Darbi’s defense. In 2014, al-Darbi pled guilty before a U.S. military commission to conspiracy in connection with an al Qaeda terrorist plot to bomb the French oil tanker MV Limburg off the coast of Yemen. One civilian was killed in the attack and several others were injured. He was convicted of the crime in 2017 and was transferred by the Trump administration in 2018 to Saudi Arabia’s custody.
FLASHBACK: INSIDE THE POLITICAL MOVEMENT THAT PUT A SOCIALIST IN CHARGE OF NEW YORK CITY
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani (right) announced he was appointing attorney Ramzi Kassem chief counsel on Tuesday. (Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg; Hiroko Masuike/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
«While it may not make him whole, my hope is that repatriation at least marks the end of injustice for Ahmed,» Kassem said at the time of the transfer, adding he had «16 long and painful years in captivity.»
In 2025, Kassem represented anti-Israel activist and Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil who was arrested by ICE for his alleged role in leading antisemitic demonstrations on campus. Khalil has since been released, though his legal case is ongoing.
Announcing the appointment, Mamdani said, «I will turn to Ramzi for his remarkable experience and his commitment to defending those too often abandoned by our legal system.»
The mayor-elect said that «City Hall will be stronger with him in it, and our work of building a more prosperous city for all will have a powerful advocate.»
AOC TO DELIVER OPENING REMARKS AT MAMDANI’S INAUGURATION, BERNIE SANDERS TO ADMINISTER OATH OF OFFICE
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani speaks to members of the media at Flushing Meadows Corona Park in the Queens borough of New York on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025. (Adam Gray/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
«My sincere hope is that New Yorkers who have long felt on the margins of this city, the homeless veteran straining to survive, the patient searching for the care that they need, an immigrant trying to get by will feel that they now have leaders in their corner who understand their struggles and care to fight for them,» Mamdani went on, adding, «That is the city I want to build. The prosperity I intend to deliver and the leadership that has too long been lacking.»
Kassem thanked Mamdani for the appointment, saying he considers it a «call of duty to serve the city that I’ve called home, the city that embraced me.»
«I grew up in war-torn countries in the Middle East, authoritarian regimes, and New York City was really my first stable and permanent home,» said Kassem. «This is an opportunity for me to repay that debt. I’ve been trying to repay that debt ever since I came to this country, ever since I immigrated.»
20% OF NYC MAYOR-ELECT MAMDANI TRANSITION APPOINTEES HAVE ANTI-ZIONIST TIES: ADL
Pro-Hamas activist and former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil poses for selfies after his release from federal immigration detention in Jena, La., Friday, June 20, 2025. (Kat Ramirez for Fox News Digital)
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Kassem is the founder of the Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility (CLEAR) law clinic, a project that, according to its website, has a mandate «to support Muslim and all other client, communities, and movements in the New York City area and beyond that are targeted by local, state, or federal government agencies under the guise of national security and counterterrorism.»
zohran mamdani,al qaeda terror,terrorism,woke,socialism,new york city
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UK PM Starmer–praised Egyptian extremist faces counter-terror probe over resurfaced tweets
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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing intensifying political scrutiny after U.K. counterterrorism police began assessing resurfaced social media posts by Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah, whom the prime minister had publicly welcomed back to Britain following his release from prison in Egypt.
Abd El-Fattah was forced to apologize this week after the controversial posts published between 2008 and 2014 that included remarks endorsing violence against «U.S. soldiers, Zionists and police.» The posts resurfaced shortly after his return to the U.K., triggering political backlash and a counterterrorism review, including a tweet he wrote: «From time to time I remind people that I rejoice when U.S. soldiers are killed, and support killing Zionists, even civilians.»
Abd El-Fattah returned to Britain on Boxing Day after receiving a pardon from Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Starmer, who had campaigned publicly for his release and described the case as a priority for his government, said he was «delighted» when Abd El-Fattah arrived in the country.
UK PRIME MINISTER SLAMMED FOR WELCOMING HOME FREED EGYPTIAN PRISONER AFTER SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS RESURFACE
Pro-democracy activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah, who was in prison for almost all of the past 12 years, speaks to his friends at his home after he got a presidential pardon, in Cairo, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (AP)
That welcome has since become a central point of controversy, although Starmer later condemned the historic posts as «absolutely abhorrent» and said the government was «taking steps to review the information failures in this case.»
An official Counter Terrorism Policing spokesperson said authorities have received multiple public referrals related to Abd El-Fattah’s historical posts and that they are now being assessed by specialist officers within the Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU), according to GB News.
GB News reported that the posts under review include material in which Abd El-Fattah allegedly described the killing of Zionists as «heroic» and appeared to call for violence against police. One post is reported to have stated, «We need to kill more of them.» Another post is alleged to have read: «By the way I’m a racist, I don’t like white people so piss off.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper ordered an urgent review into what she described as «serious information failures» in the case and said neither she nor Starmer were briefed on the social media posts before Abd El-Fattah arrived in Britain. Cooper said she «very much regrets» the government’s public welcome and that it «added to the distress felt by Jewish communities in the U.K.»
TOP MAMDANI APPOINTEE DRAMATICALLY QUITS AFTER ANTISEMITIC POSTS RESURFACE
Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer leaves 10 Downing Street to attend the weekly Prime Ministers’ Questions session in parliament in London, Wednesday, July 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
Speaking to Fox News Digital, Alan Mendoza, executive director of the Henry Jackson Society, attacked the government’s handling of the case, saying: «The British Government is guilty of incompetence at the very least for having embraced an activist with such an obvious and appalling social media record.»
He continued, «The fact that el-Fattah’s public commentary was not checked by successive administrations allowing him access to first citizenship and consular support and then admission to the U.K. shows how shambolic our institutions have become. There is nothing British about this man beyond a quirk of administration, and he should be stripped of his status immediately and deported on account of who he really is: an enemy of this state.»
UK FLAG CLASH AS FOREIGN BANNERS FLY, CITIZENS PUSH BACK AGAINST WOKE POLICIES RESHAPING BRITAIN
Much of the material now under scrutiny dates to between 2010 and 2012, a period during which Abd El-Fattah was an active figure in Egypt’s protest movement, which led the way to the Muslim Brotherhood affiliated Mohamed Morsi seizing power and becoming Egyptian president.
In his apology, Abd El-Fattah said the posts reflected «expressions of a young man’s anger and frustration in a time of regional crises,» including wars in Iraq, Lebanon and Gaza, and rising police brutality in Egypt. He said he particularly regretted posts written during online disputes and acknowledged he «should have known better.»
Police Superintendent John Loveless addresses the media in Huntingdon, England, Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
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Opposition lawmakers argue the episode exposes a broader failure of vetting and judgment. Conservative MP Robert Jenrick has dismissed the apology as «scripted and fake» and called for Abd El-Fattah’s removal from Britain, according to GB News.
Reuters contributed to this report.
united kingdom,anti semitism,counter terrorism,middle east
INTERNACIONAL
La dictadura de Maduro ordenó custodiar dos instalaciones petroleras tras el ataque de Estados Unidos a un puerto clave del régimen
La dictadura de Nicolás Maduro ordenó el refuerzo militar en dos de las principales instalaciones energéticas de Venezuela en medio de la presión por parte de Estados Unidos, que en las últimas semanas ejecutó ataques directos contra infraestructura vinculada al narcotráfico y avanzó en el bloqueo del comercio petrolero del país.
La Fuerza Armada Nacional Bolivariana (FANB), pilar del sostenimiento del régimen chavista, informó que mantiene unidades desplegadas en el Centro de Refinación Paraguaná, en el estado Falcón, y en el Complejo Petroquímico Ana María Campos, en Zulia, una región fronteriza con Colombia históricamente atravesada por el contrabando y el crimen organizado.
El anuncio fue realizado por el jefe militar de la región occidental, Pedro González Ovalles, en un mensaje difundido por el alto mando castrense.
Según afirmó, el despliegue busca “garantizar la seguridad” de ambas instalaciones, aunque la decisión se produce en medio del aislamiento internacional del régimen y de denuncias sobre el uso de puertos venezolanos para actividades ilícitas.
El refuerzo coincide con la revelación del diario The New York Times de que la Agencia Central de Inteligencia (CIA) de Estados Unidos llevó a cabo un ataque con drones contra un muelle en Venezuela que, según funcionarios estadounidenses, era utilizado por la organización criminal Tren de Aragua para almacenar y despachar cargamentos de droga. De acuerdo con el diario, la operación no dejó víctimas y representa la primera acción conocida de Estados Unidos dentro del territorio venezolano.
El propio presidente Donald Trump confirmó la ofensiva.
“Hubo una gran explosión en la zona del muelle donde cargan las drogas en los barcos”, declaró a periodistas en Mar-a-Lago. Washington sostiene que el ataque forma parte de una campaña ampliada contra redes narcotraficantes que operan con protección de la dictadura de Nicolás Maduro.
El Pentágono ha desplegado drones MQ-9 Reaper en el Caribe como parte de esa estrategia. Según The New York Times, la operación marca un giro en la política estadounidense, que hasta ahora se había concentrado en interceptar embarcaciones en aguas internacionales. Trump había anticipado que Estados Unidos comenzaría a atacar objetivos en tierra vinculados al narcotráfico.
La presión aumentó además tras la incautación de dos buques que transportaban crudo venezolano y el anuncio de un bloqueo total a petroleros sancionados que entren o salgan del país caribeño. La medida golpea directamente a la principal fuente de ingresos del régimen en un contexto de colapso económico y deterioro de la industria energética.
El Centro de Refinación Paraguaná, uno de los complejos más grandes del mundo, opera muy por debajo de su capacidad desde hace años por falta de inversión, corrupción y sanciones. El complejo Ana María Campos, dedicado a fertilizantes y derivados del gas, también ha sufrido paralizaciones recurrentes.
Desde Caracas, funcionarios del régimen denunciaron “amenazas” y “ataques”, sin referirse directamente a la operación estadounidense. El llamado “número dos” del chavismo y ministro de Interior de Maduro, Diosdado Cabello, habló de una campaña de “acoso”, mientras que la chavista Delcy Rodríguez instó a trabajadores petroleros a permanecer en “alerta permanente”.
La dictadura venezolana habló sobre supuestos planes de sabotaje contra instalaciones energéticas, incluidos ataques con explosivos.
Estados Unidos mantiene desde mediados de año un amplio despliegue aeronaval en el Caribe, que justifica como parte de su lucha contra el narcotráfico transnacional.
Para Washington, el régimen de Venezuela se ha convertido en un nodo central de esas redes.
(Con información de EFE)
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