Hawkeye Reporter

U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) have asked Verizon, AT&T, and Lumen to clarify the extent of the FBI’s efforts to collect information about Members of Congress during the Arctic Frost investigation.

The request follows records obtained from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Office of the Inspector General. These records indicate that employees from NARA, the FBI, Department of Justice (DOJ), and United States Postal Inspection Service discussed subpoenas sent to these companies while working together on Arctic Frost and related investigations. The referenced subpoenas appear to have been issued before Special Counsel Jack Smith took over Arctic Frost. According to Grassley and Johnson, Verizon, AT&T, and Lumen have not yet provided subpoenas that match the timeline in question.

Whistleblower disclosures shared by Grassley and Johnson revealed that more than 400 Republican organizations and individuals were targeted as part of Arctic Frost. Additionally, phone records for at least 13 Members of Congress were subpoenaed, including former U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas).

Grassley and Johnson also sent letters to Southern First Bank, Microsoft, TDS Telecommunications, as well as six web platforms and social media companies—Alphabet, Apple, Meta, Snapchat, X (formerly Twitter), and Yahoo—to determine if they too received subpoenas from either Special Counsel Smith or the DOJ prior to Smith’s appointment.

A series of recent actions by Grassley related to oversight of Arctic Frost include demands for telecommunications companies and federal agencies to turn over all records provided to Jack Smith; public releases of whistleblower documents; statements regarding alleged political targeting by federal law enforcement; and hearings addressing these issues.