{"id":15643,"date":"2025-11-13T23:31:48","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T23:31:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/senate-republicans-run-from-politically-toxic-payout-provision-designed-just-for-them\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T23:31:48","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T23:31:48","slug":"senate-republicans-run-from-politically-toxic-payout-provision-designed-just-for-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/senate-republicans-run-from-politically-toxic-payout-provision-designed-just-for-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate Republicans run from politically toxic payout provision designed just for them"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Senate Majority Leader John Thune<\/a> thought he was giving Republicans a gift when he secured a provision<\/a> in the shutdown-ending government funding package that could award hundreds of thousands of dollars to senators subpoenaed as part of former special counsel Jack Smith\u2019s investigation into President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

It turns out, several of them don\u2019t want it.<\/p>\n

Of the eight known Senate Republicans whose phone records were subpoenaed as part of Smith\u2019s probe into Trump\u2019s 2020 election interference, only one so far \u2014 Sen. Lindsey Graham<\/a> of South Carolina \u2014 has announced definitive plans to take advantage of the new legislative language that would allow senators to sue the federal government for $500,000 or more if they discover their electronic records were seized without notification.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh definitely,\u201d Graham said at a news conference<\/a> after the passage of the government funding bill. \u201cAnd if you think I’m going to settle this thing for a million dollars \u2014 no. I want to make it so painful, no one ever does this again \u2026 I\u2019m going to pursue through the court system \u2014 remedies.\u201d<\/p>\n

The others, however, were less enthusiastic or more opaque about their intentions. In public comments, social media posts or statements to Blue Light News over the past few days, the seven remaining Senate Republicans declined to publicly commit to seeking compensation for being singled out by Smith \u2014 as the Democrats pummel the GOP for endorsing a taxpayer-funded windfall and fellow Republicans in both chambers decry the provision as poorly conceived.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the Senate provision is a bad idea,\u201d said Sen. Josh Hawley<\/a> (R-Mo.) in a statement. \u201cThere needs to be accountability for the Biden DOJ\u2019s outrageous abuse of the separation of powers, but the right way to do that is through public hearings, tough oversight, including of the complicit telecomm companies, and prosecution where warranted.\u201d<\/p>\n

It could all soon be moot. Republicans in the House were enraged over the provision’s inclusion, and Speaker Mike Johnson<\/a> responded by promising to hold a vote for a bill that would repeal the legislative language. The effort is expected to pass overwhelmingly with bipartisan support.<\/p>\n

Johnson told reporters Wednesday that he had spoken with Thune about the issue earlier in the day, and that he communicated his disapproval of his Senate counterpart\u2019s maneuvering.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not clear what Thune plans to do with the bill, assuming it passes the House. A person familiar with the provision\u2019s introduction into the funding bill, who was granted anonymity to discuss private conversations, said that Senate Republicans requested that Thune include the language in the legislation.<\/p>\n

The person cited a \u201cstrong appetite\u201d among the GOP to pursue accountability for the so-called Arctic Frost investigation, a Biden-era probe that Republicans say constituted a weaponization of the Justice Department.<\/p>\n

But as it turns out, the provision in the funding bill related to Smith\u2019s probe is already creating political liability for Senate Republicans. Rep. John Rose<\/a> (R-Tenn.), who is running for governor of his state next year, quickly introduced legislation in the House that would reverse the provision. His challenger for the Republican nomination, Sen. Marsha Blackburn<\/a>, later said she would vote for a bill to undo the language \u2014 but expressed a desire to take some legal recourse as a Smith target.<\/p>\n

\u201cSenator Blackburn\u2019s plan has always been to seek a declaratory judgment \u2014 not monetary damages \u2014 to prevent leftists from violating the constitutional rights of conservatives,\u201d a spokesperson for Blackburn said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Even Sen. Ron Johnson<\/a> (R-Wis.), who is co-leading the investigation into Smith\u2019s probe with Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley<\/a> (R-Iowa), said that while he stood by the provision he wouldn’t act on the cash opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no plans at this time,\u201d he said in a statement. \u201cIf I did sue, it would only be for the purpose of using the courts to expose the corrupt weaponization of federal law enforcement by the Biden and Obama administrations. With the full cooperation in our congressional investigations from the Trump DOJ and FBI, that shouldn\u2019t be necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sen. Bill Hagerty<\/a> (R-Tenn.) said he would not<\/a> seek damages nor did he want taxpayer money.<\/p>\n

Sen. Dan Sullivan<\/a> (R-Alaska) tried to distance himself from the provision’s origin story, with a spokesperson saying he only learned about the payout language while reading the bill. He would support a House measure to repeal it, the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Sen. Cynthia Lummis<\/a> also emphasized that the Wyoming Republican did not play a role in the provision\u2019s formulation \u2014 but added that the lawmaker supported the language.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must not allow the politicization of federal agencies to become routine,\u201d the spokesperson said. \u201cLiquidated damages provisions are commonly used and this provision is the only way to hold Jack Smith and wrongdoers accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Sen. Tommy Tuberville<\/a> (R-Ala.), another gubernatorial aspirant, pointed to the lawmaker\u2019s statement on social media, noting that he would \u201csue the living hell out of every Biden official involved\u201d if Smith was not jailed and Judge James Boasberg \u2014 who approved the effort to prevent senators from being notified of the subpoena \u2014 was not impeached.<\/p>\n

The spokesperson wasn’t clear on whether Tuberville intends to sue the federal government under the provision in the funding bill.<\/p>\n

Graham, during his press conference this week, said he believed the language would benefit everyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis wasn\u2019t about investigating me or other Senators for a crime \u2014 it was a fishing expedition,\u201d Graham said. \u201cI\u2019m going to push back really hard \u2026 that will protect the Senate in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Senate Majority Leader John Thune thought he was giving Republicans a gift when he secured a provision in the shutdown-ending government funding package that could award hundreds of thousands of dollars to senators subpoenaed as part of former special counsel Jack Smith\u2019s investigation into President Donald Trump. It turns out, several of them don\u2019t want […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15643\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}