Wyoming Sen. Cynthia Lummis was among a small group of lawmakers whose phone records from the week of Jan. 6, 2021 were investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), according to information released by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
A copy of an FBI document shared by the committee shows that in 2023, the FBI pulled phone records and data related to “Election Law Matters” from nine elected officials between Jan. 4 and Jan. 7, 2021. “That data shows when and to whom a call is made, as well as the duration and general location data of the call. The data does not include the content of the call,” the committee’s release said.
The FBI document notes a redacted special agent “conducted preliminary toll analysis on limited tolls records associated with the following US Senators.”
That group included Lummis, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA), Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN).
Lummis was not made available for an interview by publication. Her office shared a press release issued Monday after the investigation was disclosed.
“I’m absolutely appalled that the Biden administration used the FBI to spy on the private communications of Republican U.S. Senators – myself included,” Lummis said in the statement. “This was a blatant assault on our constitutional rights as elected officials and a calculated attempt to sabotage the separation of powers. Make no mistake: this authoritarian, unconstitutional surveillance and attack on the legislative branch under the Biden administration demands immediate investigation and prosecution. Those responsible must be held accountable, and we must ensure this abuse of power can never happen again.”
During an interview with Fox News, Lummis suggested she was looking into her own legal options, and that senators may have a "cause of action against the Biden Federal Bureau of Investigation.”
Lummis also posted on X on Tuesday, “Who was the FBI targeting? What were they after? What did they want to know about me? Did they think we had information about the FBI’s involvement in the 2020 election they didn’t want us to have? Was it at the Merrick Garland level? Christopher Wray? Who approved the subpoena?”
Lummis previously said she had “serious concerns about election integrity, especially in Pennsylvania” during the 2020 election, and ultimately voted against certifying that state’s results showing Joe Biden won. She was joined by Hawley. Others on the FBI’s list voted to overturn the results from Arizona.
Multiple investigations and lawsuits claiming Trump won the 2020 election have been dismissed, withdrawn by Trump’s side or denied.
Sen. John Barrasso’s (R-WY) office responded to WPR’s request for comment.
“This is an outrageous abuse of power. Republicans will work with the Trump administration to investigate who is responsible and hold them accountable. We must ensure this never happens again,” Barrasso said.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley called the findings “worse than Watergate.” However, this is not the first time Congress members have come under similar investigations.
The Trump administration subpoenaed Apple for the data of Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and others in 2021 as the Justice Department investigated leaks of classified information from early in the Trump administration.
In 2024, then President-elect Trump backed the Republican-led recommendation that former Wyoming Sen. Liz Cheney be investigated by the FBI for her investigation of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
However, some of those named in the FBI document released this week want to see legal action taken. The director of the FBI said he has proof the agency was picking political targets under the leadership of former FBI Director Christopher Wray.
“We recently uncovered evidence that the phone records of U.S. lawmakers were seized for political reasons. This abuse of power ends now,” Patel wrote on X. He has not released the evidence he claims the FBI has found. However, the FBI has since disbanded CR-15, an anti-corruption unit that assisted in the January 6 probe.
