Things got ugly fast during Jack Smith’s appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday.
Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana launched into an aggressive line of questioning over Smith’s investigation and the collection of phone records connected to members of Congress — repeatedly cutting off the former special counsel as he attempted to answer.
Kennedy accused Smith of failing to properly inform then-Chief Judge James Boasberg when prosecutors sought records involving lawmakers.
“When you went to Judge Boasberg, you didn’t even tell him you were seeking the phone records of members of Congress, did you?” Kennedy demanded.
Smith attempted to respond.
“We sought non-disclosure orders from—”
Kennedy cut him off.
“But you didn’t tell him.”
And then came the moment that sent the exchange completely off the rails.
Kennedy told the former federal prosecutor:
“You make me want to throw up in my mouth.”
That was enough for Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin.
Durbin interrupted and objected to the way Smith was being questioned.
“This hearing is of constitutional and historic importance,” Durbin said. “This witness should be allowed to answer the questions, complete a sentence.”
Durbin noted that the committee had extended that courtesy to witnesses from both political parties and said the same treatment should be extended to Smith.
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The confrontation came during a highly contentious hearing in which Smith defended the investigations he led into Donald Trump while Republican senators challenged his investigative tactics.
One major focus was prosecutors’ acquisition of lawmakers’ phone toll records as part of the investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Smith pushed back on suggestions that investigators had obtained lawmakers’ private conversations. According to his testimony, investigators obtained toll records — information such as incoming and outgoing phone numbers and call duration — rather than the contents of calls.
Republicans argued that the investigation improperly swept up sitting members of Congress and raised constitutional concerns.
Smith defended his team’s actions, saying investigators followed Justice Department procedures and obtained the necessary court authorization.
But Kennedy’s questioning ultimately produced a moment that went far beyond a technical dispute over investigative procedure.
A sitting United States senator told a former special counsel that he made him want to “throw up in my mouth” — while Durbin intervened to demand that the witness simply be allowed to finish his answers.
And in a hearing already packed with partisan fireworks, that exchange quickly became one of the moments everyone was talking about.
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