The Biden administration FBI's wiretap of Susie Wiles' call with her lawyer is a more serious abuse of power than Watergate, a Senate witness tested Tuesday.

The claim was made by Article III Project senior counsel Will Chamberlain as Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, questioned him during a hearing by the chamber's Judiciary Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action and Federal Rights, which was titled "Arctic Frost: A Modern Watergate."

"The FBI designated this as a prohibited file to prevent anyone from finding out about it," Lee said, referring to a record released by Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley earlier Tuesday.

"That seems to be correct, yes," Chamberlain said.

"Okay, so your testimony focuses, among other things, on an FBI recording of a 2023 phone call between Susie Wiles, who was, at the time, managing President Trump's presidential campaign, and her lawyer. Now, according to the FBI, the lawyer was aware of the recording. But isn't it true that the lawyer denied that he had ever consented to that arrangement?" Lee asked.

"That's true, that was widely reported," Chamberlain replied.

"And if, in fact, the lawyer did not consent, your testimony today is that this would have been and was an illegal wiretap by the FBI in the absence of her lawyer's consent with the FBI?" Lee asked.

"That's correct," Chamberlain said.

"And the FBI designated this as a prohibited file to prevent anyone from finding out about it?" Lee asked.

"That seems to be correct, yes," Chamberlain responded.

"Okay, so they did something they weren't supposed to do, then they designated it as a prohibited file to cover it up. Now, in general, should the president be able to direct the FBI to spy on the campaign of his political opponent?" Lee asked.

"Absolutely not," Chamberlain said.

"And isn't listening to a private conversation between a presidential campaign manager and her lawyer in many ways much more serious as an abuse of government power than an attempted wiretap of the DNC headquarters in Watergate?" Lee asked.

"Correct, because there's two, you know, interests being invaded. First, it's just the wiretap generally. But then it's doubly invasive, because it's supposed to be a privileged conversation," Chamberlain said.

"A privileged conversation which, regardless of who is involved in it, is supposed to be privileged, and that takes on additional flavor and additional degrees of seriousness when that person happens to be a client represented by a lawyer who happens to be managing the presidential campaign of the then-incumbent president's lead and exclusive challenger, effectively," Lee said.