The FBI and Lummis’ phone records — what we know so far

The FBI analyzed phone records of nine Republican lawmakers, including Wyoming U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, as part of an investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, according to information released Monday by GOP senators. 

“The FBI in 2023 sought and obtained data about the senators’ phone use from January 4 through January 7, 2021,” according to a press release from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa. The committee oversees the FBI. 

The data does not include the content of the calls, the release said, but shows “when and to whom a call is made, as well as the duration and general location data of the call.” 

Included in the release was a copy of a one-page FBI document dated Sept. 27, 2023, which lists Lummis alongside seven other U.S. senators and one U.S. representative. Several parts of the document were redacted.  

“FBI special agent [redacted] conducted preliminary toll analysis on limited tolls records associated with the following US Senators,” the document states. 

Alongside some of the other listed Republicans, Lummis is accusing the bureau of more than what is indicated in the document, including espionage. 

“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 a statement to WyoFile. “This was a blatant assault on our constitutional rights as elected officials and a calculated attempt to sabotage the separation of powers.” 

Lummis is calling for “immediate investigation and prosecution,” and that those responsible “be held accountable” to ensure “this abuse of power can never happen again.”

The document does not indicate why the phone records of Lummis, or the other eight Republicans, were of particular interest to the FBI. 

However, most of the nine lawmakers took varying actions to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Lummis, for example, voted against certifying election results in Pennsylvania, where President Joe Biden won, after armed protestors broke into the Capitol. 

Lummis has her own theory for why she was included. 

“The only reason I can think of why the FBI felt it had to spy on me and my Republican colleagues is that we support President Trump,” Lummis said Tuesday in a post on X. 

Lummis was not available for an interview with WyoFile before this article was published. 

At a Senate committee hearing Tuesday with Attorney General Pam Bondi, Republican lawmakers pointed to the FBI document as proof that the Biden administration had politicized the federal agency. They also repeatedly denounced Jack Smith, the former special counsel who indicted President Donald Trump for conspiracy and other crimes related to Jan. 6.

After Trump won in 2024, the Justice Department dropped the case as part of a longstanding policy that says sitting presidents cannot face criminal prosecution.