Jack Smith’s Surveillance Dragnet Demanded Trump Media’s Metadata

Summary

The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson

Episode: Jack Smith’s Surveillance Dragnet Demanded Trump Media’s Metadata
Date: November 3, 2025
Host: Ben Ferguson (Premiere Networks)
Featured Guests: Devin Nunes (TMTG CEO), Rep. Jim Jordan (House Judiciary Committee Chair), Greta Van Susteren (Newsmax)

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EPISODE OVERVIEW

The November 3rd, 2025 episode of The 47 Morning Update zeroes in on allegations that Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office conducted a sweeping, secretive subpoena campaign against Trump-affiliated individuals and organizations. The main story centers on claims from Devin Nunes, CEO of Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), that Smith’s team sought Trump Media’s bank records—even from a period before the company existed. The episode builds on this revelation with commentary and analysis from Congressman Jim Jordan, emphasizing the breadth of government surveillance, concerns of political motivation, and the ongoing push for accountability.

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KEY DISCUSSION POINTS & INSIGHTS

1. Jack Smith’s Broad Subpoena: Allegations of Overreach

Timestamp: 01:39 – 06:14

• Devin Nunes’ Accusation:

  • Nunes reveals that Jack Smith's team issued a "shockingly broad and secret subpoena" for TMTG's banking records—even though the investigation covered a period before TMTG technically existed.
  • Quote:

    “This is a stunning abuse of power against a private business and our hundreds of thousands of retail investors, especially since Trump Media did not even exist at the time of the events that Jack Smith was supposedly investigating.” — Devin Nunes [paraphrased by Ben Ferguson, 02:06]

  • The subpoena covered records from September 1, 2020, to October 31, 2021, demanding comprehensive account data from JP Morgan Chase.
  • Nunes calls for the SEC and JP Morgan to clarify whether bank records were improperly obtained or leaked.

• Details of the Subpoena’s Scope:

  • Requested bank statements, transfers, ACH payments, safe deposit box info, debit card histories, IP addresses, cookie data, and other metadata—labeled as a "full blown fishing expedition."

2. Magnitude of Smith’s ‘Arctic Frost’ Surveillance Operation

Timestamp: 06:14 – 08:04

• Extent of Subpoenas:

  • Senate Judiciary leaks indicate at least 197 subpoenas covering 430 individuals/entities.
  • Targets included Trump officials, members of Congress (phone seizures), and widespread communications/bank records ‘fishing.’
  • GOP lawmakers, including Jim Jordan, denounce the operation as politically motivated surveillance.

• Quote (Rep. Jim Jordan):

  “It wasn’t just that they took the phone of a sitting member of Congress... Now we learn it’s over 150 individuals—key people in the Trump administration, key people that they went after, getting communications, phone records, bank records, all kinds of things they were going after. This is how expansive Arctic Frost started out and how it even expanded even more when Jack Smith was named special counsel and when he took over the investigation.” — Jim Jordan [06:41]

• Deposition Stonewalling:

  • Jordan reports that two of Smith’s deputies refused to answer questions, each pleading the Fifth 71 and 73 times.

3. Transparency, Warrants, and Redactions Debate

Timestamp: 08:04 – 13:24

• Were the subpoenas legal?

  • Greta Van Susteren presses for details: “Did they have a warrant? Did they get one from the grand jury or a signed warrant from a judge? ... Or were they just being cowboys and going through...records?” [08:04]
  • Jim Jordan replies, “I think they did have a warrant...but we want to figure all this out.” [08:19]

• Redactions Obscuring Accountability:

  • Van Susteren decries the heavy redactions on released documents, insisting transparency is crucial.
  • Quote:

    “Because you really can’t read those documents unless, I mean, you know, for full transparency. Why is everything being kept a secret?” — Greta Van Susteren [10:15]

  • Jordan says the redactions came from the DOJ or FBI, not from Congress, and wants to question the sources and agents involved.

• Concerns About Source Credibility:

  • Jordan highlights an email claiming Mark Meadows (former Chief of Staff) was accused of “treasonous activity”—calls it “ridiculous,” raising questions about source vetting.
  • Both hosts warn against repeating mistakes from the Steele dossier era, where unvetted/unreliable sources led to significant investigative overreach.

4. Political Motivation and Future Action

Timestamp: 09:26 – 14:14

• Jordan’s Position:

  • Argues the investigation was politically motivated: “I think this was political. I think this was the left saying, we’re going to go after these people...” [09:26]
  • Suggests that despite massive surveillance, no charges resulted for most targets, bolstering claims of a political rather than evidence-driven effort.

• Push for Accountability:

  • Van Susteren urges that those surveilled without proper warrants should sue for constitutional rights violations:

    “Because I’ll tell you one thing you get. First of all, you get a big chunk of change out of the government. Secondly, you get a lot of discovery, you get a lot of information, and we’d find out what the government is doing and not doing.” [14:14]

• Nunes and Jordan’s Next Steps:

  • Calls for SEC and JP Morgan accountability.
  • Intends to bring Jack Smith in for a deposition; previous deputies stonewalled with repeated invocation of the Fifth Amendment.

5. Wider Context & Historical Echoes

Timestamp: 13:24 – 14:14

• Connecting to Past Controversies:

  • Jordan and Van Susteren argue the current scandal echoes prior abuses (FISA warrants in 2016, Steele Dossier):

    “This all now has come all getting exposed. It goes clear back to 2016 when they spied. That’s when it all started. And we’re starting to unravel it all.” — Jim Jordan [13:45]

• Host Commentary:

  • Ben Ferguson sums up, projecting accountability “for people that abuse their power in the last administration or any administration if there’s evidence of major wrongdoing.” [14:58]

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NOTABLE QUOTES & MEMORABLE MOMENTS

• Devin Nunes (via Truth Social, paraphrased):

  “A stunning abuse of power against a private business and...retail investors, especially since Trump Media did not exist at the time of the events under investigation.” [02:06]

• Jim Jordan (on investigative scope):

  “Eight United States Senators, a sitting member of Congress, they took the phone of...and two of his deputies...wouldn’t answer our questions. That’s why we want to talk to Jack Smith.” [08:04]

• Greta Van Susteren (on transparency):

  “We really need to be able to read everything, and nobody should be running for cover with doing redactions.” [10:39]

• On past mistakes (Steele dossier):

  “If anyone had investigated steel, you wouldn’t have used them as a source...if you just say the person’s a source and black it out, there’s no way to challenge whether it’s someone who has good information or...an ax to grind...” — Greta Van Susteren [13:24]

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IMPORTANT SEGMENTS & TIMESTAMPS

• 01:39: Ben Ferguson sets up main story—Nunes’ accusation and the sweep of Jack Smith’s subpoena.
• 06:14: Greta Van Susteren interviews Jim Jordan on the implications, scope, and possible remedies.
• 08:04: Debate over warrant legality and investigative protocols.
• 10:15: Discussion of document redactions and transparency.
• 13:24: Analysis of source reliability and historical context (Steel dossier, FISA warrant abuses).
• 14:14: Legal remedies for alleged unconstitutional surveillance.

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SUMMARY TAKEAWAY

This episode paints a vivid picture of escalating conservative concerns over the scope and tactics of Jack Smith’s investigations. With allegations ranging from improper subpoenaing to fundamental constitutional violations, Ben Ferguson and his guests drive home the narrative that political motivations may have influenced DOJ actions. The episode leans heavily into calls for accountability, greater transparency, and a reckoning for perceived abuses of government power—casting events as both a continuation of past investigative overreaches and a warning for the future.

Transcript

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James Comey, John Bolton were all recently indicted. There is a pattern to these names.

[Greta Van Susteren]

They're all public figures who have publicly denounced you. Is it political retribution?

[Jim Jordan]

You know who got indicted? The man you're looking at, I got indicted and I was innocent.

[Greta Van Susteren]

Did you instruct the Department of Justice to go?

[Jim Jordan]

Not in any way, shape or form, no. You don't have to instruct them because they were so dirty, they were so crooked, they were so corrupt that the honest people that we have go after them automatically.

[Ben Ferguson]

You're listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson.

[Newsmax Host Greta Van Susteren]

Good Monday morning. So nice to have you with us on the 47 Morning Update. We've got one big story for you. Devin Nunez is now. Well, he's telling it like it is, saying that Jack Smith sought Donald Trump media bank records. Why were they spying on Trump's bank records? We'll have that story for you in just a moment. Plus, Jim Jordan's coming forward talking about just how big and how wide the spying campaign was on conservatives and what they've learned about it in the house. It's the 47 Morning Update and it starts right now. Story number one, Devin Nunez is now exposing Jack Smith and telling us that they sought Trump Media bank records is what we're being told. Donald Trump saying these thugs should be investigated. Trump Media and Technology Group Corporation TMTG CEO and former congressman Devin Nunez on Thursday accused former special counsel Jack Smith of wielding a shockingly broad secret subpoena for the banking records of the Trump media empire despite the company not even existing at the time of his underlying investigation, TMTG was among the more than 400 Trump linked individuals and organizations that were spied on as part of Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigation of President Donald Trump. Specifically, the Smith team issued a shockingly broad and secret subpoena for our banking records, Nunes says in a statement on Truth Social Media saying quote, this is a stunning abuse of power against a private business and are hundreds of thousands of retail investors, especially since Trump Media did not even exist at the time of the events that Jack Smith was supposedly investigating. Nunez called for answers from both the securities and Exchange Commission, the SEC and JP Morgan Chase on whether they were aware of the subpoena and whether bank records were actually leaked. According the subpoena issued to JP Morgan Chase Images of which Nunes shared on social media platform the demand covers any and all records in your possession, custody or control for all accounts and or trust accounts in the name of the bearing, the signature authority of or with the ability to be accessed by the named parties. Below listing TMTG among the named entities. The subpoena spans the time period from September 1, 2020 to October 31 of 2021 and requests an extensive array of records including checking and saving account statements, opening documents, wire transfers, ACH payments, credit and debit memos, loan and mortgage payments, safe deposit box records, debit card transaction histories, IP addresses, cookie data and other account inquiry metadata. In other words, a full blown fishing expedition by the DOJ and the FBI. Meanwhile, Smith's investigation, initiated by the Attorney General Merrick Garland in November of 2022, has drawn intense scrutiny. The probe encompasses Trump's handling of classified documents, efforts they lied about to overturn the 2020 election, and alleged obstruction of justice and other matters. In recent weeks, the Senate Judiciary Committee leaked documents showing Smith's team issued 197 subpoenas covering at least 430 individuals and entities as part of an investigation dubbed Arctic Frost. GOP lawmakers have accused Smith of improperly targeting members of Congress and others, and Smith's counsel nonetheless defended the approach as, quote, entirely proper and lawful. We'll see where this goes, but there's a very good chance this is the tip of the Arctic Frost iceberg. Greta Van Suster on Newsmax had Jim Jordan on to talk about this and she started with Donald Trump's true social post about what we're now learning. I want you to listen closely to this conversation.

[Greta Van Susteren]

These thugs should all be investigated and put in Prison, a disgrace to humanity, deranged. Jack Smith is a criminal. End quote. Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee that released those files. Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan joins me. Good evening, sir. And do you have all the FBI files on this?

[Jim Jordan]

Well, we hope, but we're going to continue to work with Director Patel and get every piece of information we can. God bless Cash and, of course, Pam Bondi, because they've been night and day, difference between them and what we have with Merrick Garland and Christopher Wray. But I think the big takeaway here is how much broader and more expansive this was. It wasn't just that they took the phone of a sitting member of Congress. When they took Scott Perry's phone. It wasn't just that they spied on eight United States senators. Now we learn it's over 150 individuals, key people in the Trump administration, key people that they went after, getting communications, phone records, bank records, all kinds of things they were going after. This is how expansive Arctic Frost started out and how it even expanded even more when Jack Smith was named special counsel and when he took over the investigation. And, and finally, I would say this, Greta, this is why we want to talk to Jack Smith, why we've asked him to come in for a deposition as soon as possible. We got to ask him questions because we've already deposed two of his deputies and they took the Fifth. 71 and 73 times Mr. Brat and Mr. Windham exercised their Fifth Amendment liberties, wouldn't answer questions like, was this all political? Were you going after this to undermine and hurt President Trump in a political way? How about any other people you surveilled or spied on, in addition to the eight United States Senators? Both of those questions, they wouldn't answer. So we want to talk to Jack Smith, the guy who ran the investigation, find out what kind of answers he'll give us.

[Greta Van Susteren]

When they went after all these records of these people, did they have a warrant? Did they get one from the grand jury or a signed warrant from a judge? Did they have a warrant? Or were they just being cowboys and going through these people, these records of the targets.

[Jim Jordan]

Again, questions we'll ask. I think they did have a warrant. I think they moved that way. But we want to figure all this out. We knew that Jack Smith had put the gag order on President Trump. We knew he had raided Mar A Lago. We knew that one of Jack Smith's deputies confronted a lawyer for one of the defendants, and it looked like he offered him. He was kind of almost a bribe situation, he said. We thought you were interested in this judge position. We didn't know you were a Trump guy. You know, kind of hint, hint, wink, wink when they talked to Stanley Woodward. So there's all this that went on, but the big takeaways for me are eight United States Senators, a sitting member of Congress, they took the phone up, and two of his deputies, who we've already deposed, who wouldn't answer our questions. So that's why we want to talk to Jack Smith.

[Greta Van Susteren]

You know, the other thing, too, is when you look at the breadth of investigation like this, with, you know, over 150, or even if you go to the lower number that you just. You just listed, is that they didn't indict or charge any of these people. So you get sort of the idea that they were just looking for everything, every place, you know, that, you know, you know, what could possibly be a legitimate reason if they didn'tif they didn't strike gold on anybody.

[Jim Jordan]

Yeah, I think you're right. They were. I think this was political. I think this was the left saying, we're going to go after these people. We're going to use this whole alternate elector reason as the basis for why we're doing this investigation. We saw the one email between. It looked like between an agent and a source talking about former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows was involved in some kind of treasonous activity, which was just ridiculous. So this was the mindset. I think it also gets to that, who are these folks in the FBI who are putting these emails together saying that there's reason to believe that the Chief of Staff to the President of the United States was engaged in treasonous behavior? That's just ridiculous. But that's what email said, and it makes no sense.

[Greta Van Susteren]

I hate that when they use reason to believe. Okay, the documents that you relieve have a lot of black spots on them, a lot of redactions. Is that something you did or the FBI did? And the reason it matters is every. Because you really can't read those documents unless, I mean, you know, for full transparency. Why is everything being kept a secret? Basically, there's no. I mean, if we want to uncover what happened, you know, to give it, you know, put the. To find out if anything dirty was done.

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[Greta Van Susteren]

We really need to. We need to be able to read everything, and nobody should be running for cover with doing redactions.

[Jim Jordan]

We didn't put the redactions on. That's how they came from the Justice Department. You're right. We need to have. We need to be able to read it all in full context. But I would go a step further and say the names under there, I actually want to ask them questions. I want to find out, like, who is this source Giving this look to me when I read it, it looks like under the redaction, it'd be the source and. And then the agent who's getting the information. I want to know who that source is. I want to know who that agent is saying these ridiculous things that get put in an email and sent to someone else as part of this investigation. So I think it's even more than that. Not just who those. What those names are. I want to talk to those people. I want to ask them questions. So that's where I think we try to go next.

[Greta Van Susteren]

Well, that's the starter. The starter is to find out who they are. Were the redactions done during the Trump administration or during the Biden administration or the Trump administration? And who. I mean, who is it someone up in some room with a big black marker someplace? I mean, who's doing these things?

[Jim Jordan]

Well, I think it's just. I think that's standard practice at the.

[Greta Van Susteren]

Justice Department, which is not good. That is not good.

[Jim Jordan]

And I don't know which one. I don't know which FBI did it. My gut tells me it was probably that's how the documents were in the Wray FBI that Director Patel has gotten his hands on now and giving to us. But I don't know that. But that would be my guess. But my understanding is that's just standard. Names, phone numbers of agents, Phone numbers and sources. Names and sources. That's just standard how they do it. But we want to know now because we saw how broad and how expansive this is. We want to know who those people are so we can ask them questions.

[Greta Van Susteren]

Well, if you're that involved in an investigation, especially a government person, you ought to have your name not blackened out so that we can see who it is. We can see who's doing what. I get if it's a confidential source, it's going to get shot on the street or something if we reveal it. But the fact that somebody.

[Jim Jordan]

And.

[Greta Van Susteren]

And I'm always told that's the way it's done, well, that's never satisfied me because that usually means.

[Jim Jordan]

I hear you.

[Greta Van Susteren]

It's sort of like why things are classified in this town, because that's the way it's done. But that's where the lack of transparency, you know, and we could get to the end of this very quickly if we could read everything and see it. And even if they turned it over to you unredacted. It would be good. I mean, I realize maybe you won't turn it to the public, but, you know, I don't know how you do an investigation when you can't get all the material.

[Jim Jordan]

Well, we're working on finding out what the name is underneath those black lines. We want to know who the name is or what the name is. We want to know who that individual is so again, we can ask them questions like where did I think. Particularly the email I keep citing. I want to know who that source is because I think it's a source that they were using. Who was the person alleging that the former chief of staff was engaged. That's just the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.

[Greta Van Susteren]

Well, you know what, though? But it's a little bit like when they were using a guy's steel as a source. They kept using it wouldn't help. But if anyone had pulled. If anyone had investigated steel, you wouldn't have used them as a source. You know, but if you just say the person's a source and black it out, there's no way to challenge whether it's someone who has good information or it's someone who's got an ax to grind or whatever. You know, that's where I.

[Jim Jordan]

And not to mention the subsources that Steele was using who just further complicates it means there's more lies in that ridiculous dossier that they relied on to get warrants to go spy on a presidential campaign. No, great point. And it's again, this all now has come all getting exposed. It goes clear back to 2016 when they spied. That's when it all started. And we're starting to unravel it all. So that. And the reason we want to unravel it all and hold people accountable is so that it doesn't happen again.

[Greta Van Susteren]

Well, if I were. If I were a government employer or anybody and I found out that they were doing that to me without a warrant from a judge or from a grand jury, I would sue for my constitutional rights being violated. Because I'll tell you one thing you get. First of all, you get a big chunk of change out of the government. Secondly, you get a lot of discovery, you get a lot of information, and we'd find out what the government is doing and not doing. Chairman Jim Jordan. Thank you, sir.

[Newsmax Host Greta Van Susteren]

You listen to Jim Jordan there and you hear what he had to say. It is truly incredible they were able to do this and abuse the power of the government. The good news is Donald Trump is making it very clear there is going to be accountability for people that abuse their power in the last administration or any administration if there's evidence of major wrongdoing.

[Ben Ferguson]

Thank you for listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson. Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever you're listening to this podcast right now. And for more in depth news, also subscribe to the Ben Ferguson Podcast and we will see you back here tomorrow.

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