Former special counsel Jack Smith is pushing back against a Republican senator’s effort to have him disbarred, calling the complaint a “retaliatory political stunt” based on a flawed interpretation of congressional immunity and selectively leaked documents.

In a Nov. 3 letter to Tennessee bar discipline officials, Smith’s lawyers said Sen. Bill Hagerty’s complaint was intended to punish Smith for his public testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in September. The hearing gave Smith an opportunity to rebut Republican accusations that he acted improperly while investigating President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Hagerty filed his complaint with the Board of Professional Responsibility of the Supreme Court of Tennessee the day after that hearing. He asked the board to revoke Smith’s law license, citing the former special counsel’s efforts to obtain phone records belonging to Hagerty and other Republican lawmakers around the time of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

The records showed whom the lawmakers called or texted but did not include the contents of their communications. Republican senators have objected to court orders that barred phone providers from notifying them that their call logs had been subpoenaed.

The senators argue that the nondisclosure orders violated the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause, which protects members of Congress from legal or criminal action over their official legislative work. They also say Smith failed to tell the judge who issued the orders that the records belonged to lawmakers.

Smith’s lawyers described the complaint as “meritless” and said it “retaliates against Mr. Smith’s exercise of his right to free speech.” They argued that the clause protects lawmakers from being compelled to testify or facing criminal consequences for legislative work, but does not prohibit a secret subpoena for phone records.

Smith’s team also said the secrecy order was meant to prevent potential interference by Trump, who faced an obstruction charge and had made menacing statements about witnesses.

Tennessee’s other senator, Republican governor-elect Marsha Blackburn, has sued Smith and the Justice Department, seeking the destruction of any remaining copies of her phone records.

Hagerty and the Tennessee disciplinary board did not immediately respond to requests for comment.