Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) went full meltdown mode Tuesday after Politico legal reporter Kyle Cheney fact-checked his claim that the Biden administration “tapped” his phone during the January 6 investigation. Spoiler: they didn’t.
During a fiery speech in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Hawley accused the FBI of wiretapping members of Congress, including himself, as part of the probe into the Capitol riot. “They were spying on us. They were tapping our phones!” Hawley declared.
But according to the actual documents — and the journalists who read them — that’s not what happened. Cheney laid it out plainly.
“Hawley falsely claiming that the FBI ‘tapped’ his and other senators’ phones,” Cheney posted on X. “The documents show a pull of non-content phone records from Jan. 4–7, 2021 – with some key details (like the limitations built into the order) still unknown.”
In other words, there was no eavesdropping. No agents listening in on calls. What the FBI obtained was a call log — known as a “toll record” — showing who called whom, when, and for how long. It’s a routine investigative step, legally obtained with court approval, and it doesn’t involve audio or content of any kind.
Still, Hawley didn’t back down. He reposted Cheney’s correction, spinning it as media gaslighting.
“Don’t believe your lying eyes!” Hawley mocked. “FBI just got caught tracking incoming calls, outgoing calls, location, duration, metadata — but that’s not ‘tapping.’”
Cheney clapped back immediately. “Correct. That’s not ‘tapping,’ which would actually involve listening to your conversations. You’ve just described a call log.”
Even The New York Times weighed in, confirming that the investigation involved nothing more than toll record analysis — a standard and legal tool that does not include the content of any communication.
PBS added further context, explaining that Republican senators — including Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley — disclosed the subpoenas themselves, and that the analysis was done in response to Grassley’s own request. The move was authorized by a grand jury.
But rather than walk back the misinformation, Hawley pivoted into another unrelated accusation, quipping: “Riiiiiight. And Joe Biden never used the autopen.”
Cheney wasn’t letting go. He posted the call records showing Trump called Hawley at least seven times on January 5 and the morning of January 6, all from the White House switchboard — and Hawley didn’t answer until after the riot.
“Presumably the logs reflect the seven calls President Trump made to you on Jan. 5 and the morning of Jan. 6 that you don’t appear to have returned until after the riot,” Cheney wrote, pasting screenshots of the records.
That detail matters. Hawley, who famously raised his fist in solidarity with the pro-Trump mob outside the Capitol, now claims he was the one under surveillance — all while ignoring repeated calls from Trump in the hours leading up to the violence.
Back in 2022, parts of those White House logs were released publicly — with a noticeable gap in entries. CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) called on the Justice Department to investigate the missing hours, raising concerns about whether anything had been deliberately omitted.
But that’s not where Hawley’s focus is. Instead, he’s busy spinning basic call metadata into a full-blown wiretap scandal — and lashing out when reporters remind him of the difference.
At the end of the day, what the documents show is straightforward: no wiretaps, no eavesdropping, and no spying. Just court-approved access to phone logs as part of an ongoing investigation into a historic attack on democracy.
But Hawley’s not selling facts. He’s selling outrage — and when the facts don’t back him up, he just yells louder.
Watch Hawley’s Senate rant and Cheney’s response below:
Sen. @HawleyMO: "Who ordered the tapping of the phones of United States Senators?@AGPamBondi: "I cannot discuss the details of that right now for very good reason…We will be looking at all aspects of this and I have talked to Director Patel at length about this." pic.twitter.com/8OEwJ24gsr
— CSPAN (@cspan) October 7, 2025
