U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Eric Schmitt of Missouri, along with four other senators, have sent a letter to Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. The letter calls for the suspension of U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg while impeachment proceedings are underway in the House of Representatives and pending a potential trial in the Senate.
The call for suspension comes after revelations that, as part of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s Arctic Frost investigation into President Trump, phone records belonging to Senator Graham and seven other senators were subpoenaed. Judge Boasberg issued a gag order to Verizon, Graham’s phone carrier, instructing them not to inform Graham about the subpoena due to concerns over possible destruction or tampering with evidence, intimidation of witnesses, and risks to the investigation.
Senator Graham has advocated for an investigation similar to Watergate into Judge Boasberg’s actions.
In their letter, the senators wrote: “Chief Judge Boasberg should be administratively suspended pending formal impeachment by the House of Representatives and, if impeached, an impeachment trial by the Senate. On November 4, 2025, Articles of Impeachment were filed against Chief Judge Boasberg over, among other things, his role in improperly granting gag orders in the ‘Arctic Frost’ probe.”
The letter urges Chief Judge Srinivasan to address a judicial misconduct complaint filed by the Department of Justice against Judge Boasberg according to legal requirements. It also asks for an update on this matter to be provided to both congressional judiciary committees and DOJ.
“On July 28, 2025, the Department of Justice filed a formal judicial misconduct complaint against Judge Boasberg, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 351(a).7 Under 28 U.S.C. § 352, you are mandated to ‘expeditiously’ review this complaint and determine whether to take ‘appropriate corrective action,’” stated the senators.
They continued: “While this impeachment process proceeds, we must have transparency regarding the actions the Circuit Judicial Council is taking against the judicial misconduct of Chief Judge Boasberg.”
Joining Graham and Schmitt in signing this letter were Senators Kevin Cramer (North Dakota), Bill Hagerty (Tennessee), Mike Lee (Utah), and Tommy Tuberville (Alabama).
Additional information about this development is available from external sources such as the Washington Examiner.
