I’ve seen a picture of Smullett and Kamelface campaigning together. They definitely know each other, and I speculate they set this up together to help push the lynching bill, which I assume only applies to blacks and gays.
There is a reason he did not want to turn over his phone records. It probably has her number. I would not doubt this was timed to help pass the anti lynching legislation.
(Democrats have repeatedly declined to pass Anti lynching legislation since Republicans began to repeatedly introduce this legislation beginning about 1901. (Maybe earlier.)