Tuberville Decries Just-Revealed FBI Surveillance of His Data

Senator Tommy Tuberville denounced former FBI officials and prosecutor Jack Smith on Monday following revelations that the agency had obtained data about his cell phone use in January 2021.

The U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary released a report on Monday outlining a document obtained by Senator Chuck Grassley from Iowa, which reveals that in 2023 the FBI, under President Biden, sought and obtained phone data about seven U.S. senators and one House Representative, all of whom are Republicans.

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Tuberville, one of the Senators whose records were obtained, joined Ryan Fowler on his sports talk show on Tide 100.9 Monday afternoon and discussed the new revelations.

"I was just brought into a briefing 30 or 40 minutes ago by the FBI, and I had no clue what they were going to talk about," Tuberville said. "They informed us that a whistleblower has come out from the FBI, Biden's FBI, and said that eight or nine Senators' phones were tracked, phone numbers, and I just happen to be on that list. Now I know why I was on that list - because I'm a friend with Donald Trump, I'm an ally."

Tuberville slammed the FBI's "Arctic Frost" investigation and Special Counsel prosecutor Jack Smith's investigations into whether former and current President Donald Trump broke the law during the transfer of power in 2021 or through his handling of confidential documents.

The Monday report shows that the FBI obtained call logs for the eight lawmakers from January 4th through January 7th, 2021 - before, during, and after the January 6th riots in Washington, D.C., which attempted to prevent Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 elections.

"I never thought that our country would do something like that. Not to me, but to a United States Senator," Tuberville told Fowler. "I thought it would always come from Iran and North Korea or China. It's just absolutely amazing to me what the Biden administration tried to do during those four years."

Tuberville weighed in on news that sports talk personality Paul Finebaum may run for his Senate seat and said he would have to be "a Republican, conservative, and a Donald Trump follower" to have any real shot at the seat.

The Senator, who is seeking Alabama's governor's office next year, also decried a violent weekend in the state, especially in Montgomery, where a mass shooting killed two and injured more than a dozen people. Tuberville said he would support the deployment of U.S. troops into Alabama cities if the problem does not come under control.

"A lot can be done. You can do more for your law enforcement in your city and your county, not just in Montgomery, but Birmingham, Mobile, Huntsville, Tuscaloosa, Auburn," Tuberville said. "You can put a lot more emphasis on it. You can get more people involved. You can talk about it more in the media, about how we're going to going to have law and order. And if that doesn't work, you do exactly exactly what President Trump does. You send in people who are going to protect your communities, whether it's National Guard or whoever, anybody."

"I hate what happened, he continued. "People were killed, people were injured, and it puts a bad light on the state of Alabama, especially our state's capital. My gosh. The leaders of that city, they need to get control of what's going on. Don't take anything for granted and make Montgomery safe again."

Tuberville also called for reform of Name, Image, and Likeness rules in college football, which have finally allowed players to be paid directly while they are still collegiate athletes.

For more coverage of news in West Alabama, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.