Former Special Counsel Jack Smith is facing renewed scrutiny after whistleblower records showed his team subpoenaed thousands of checks from small-dollar donors to President Trump.
Records provided to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) through legally protected whistleblower disclosures reveal that Smith's team acquired at least 4,782 checks from Americans in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico who made mainly small-dollar donations to President Trump and Trump-aligned Republican entities between September 2019 and August 2023. Some donations were as small as $1.
The checks revealed far more than donation amounts: donors' home addresses, bank account and routing numbers, and signatures.
The records were obtained as part of the "Arctic Frost" election case against President Trump, and were routed to former FBI Special Agent Walter Giardina. There may be additional subpoena returns containing more donor checks.
Grassley confronted Smith during a Senate Judiciary hearing, arguing there was no legitimate basis for obtaining the records — noting the donor information never appeared in the special counsel's public report. Smith confirmed his team acquired financial information during the investigation.
The revelations have intensified questions about the scope of the investigation and how the financial data of ordinary Americans was obtained and used.