Senator Kennedy Says Jack Smith Makes Him 'Want to Throw Up' in Clash Over Republican Senators' Phone Records

Kennedy said Smith never told James Boasberg, Washington's chief federal trial judge, that the subpoenas covered sitting legislators (Credit: U.S. Senate Photographic Studio)

Republican Senator John Kennedy told former special counsel Jack Smith, 'You make me want to throw up in my mouth.' The Louisiana senator spoke on Tuesday 29 September before the Senate Judiciary Committee. He accused Smith of breaching the Speech or Debate Clause, which shields lawmakers' legislative acts from questioning elsewhere, by seeking Republican senators' phone records.

Smith denied any breach, calling the senators' toll records non-content records. Those logs show who called whom and for how long, not what anyone said. The row matters because House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan referred Smith in July to the Justice Department for prosecution over testimony about those records.