Hawkeye Reporter

An FBI document obtained by Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, shows that the FBI collected phone data from eight Republican senators and one Republican House member as part of its Arctic Frost investigation. The investigation served as the foundation for Special Counsel Jack Smith’s case regarding electors and former President Donald Trump.

The data request covered January 4 to January 7, 2021, and included information such as call times, recipients, duration, and general location. The content of calls was not included. The senators whose data was targeted are Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), along with Representative Mike Kelly (R-Pa.).

According to Grassley, the document came from a "Prohibited Access" file—a system within the FBI designed to restrict access to certain documents by making them inaccessible to most agents. Grassley’s oversight efforts brought attention to this system.

Grassley stated: “Based on the evidence to-date, Arctic Frost and related weaponization by federal law enforcement under Biden was arguably worse than Watergate.

“What I’ve uncovered today is disturbing and outrageous political conduct by the Biden FBI. The FBI’s actions were an unconstitutional breach, and Attorney General Bondi and Director Patel need to hold accountable those involved in this serious wrongdoing.

“I started the Arctic Frost investigation in July 2022 after hearing from whistleblowers. It’s taken years to get records and advance my investigation, but what the public is seeing now demonstrates the importance of congressional oversight and whistleblowers. My whistleblowers deserve great thanks for what they’ve helped expose. None of this would have been known without them.”

The Arctic Frost investigation began in April 2022 under former agent Timothy Thibault before being assigned to Special Counsel Jack Smith in November 2022. Earlier whistleblower disclosures revealed that during this probe, the FBI also obtained government phones belonging to Donald Trump and Mike Pence with assistance from officials in the Biden White House.

Records previously released by Grassley indicated that over 90 individuals or groups linked to Republicans were investigated under Arctic Frost.

Recent releases have shown ongoing congressional scrutiny into how federal law enforcement conducted investigations tied to Trump-era activities and Republican-affiliated organizations.