Arctic Frost investigation

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The Arctic Frost investigation, widely reported as the fake elector investigation at the time, [1] was a joint federal investigation opened in April 2022 involving the FBI, DOJ Office of Inspector General, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, National Archives and Office of Inspector General into Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election results. [2] The investigation was transferred to Special Counsel Jack Smith's oversight in November 2022, [3] along with other investigations into the election and its aftermath, leading to the federal prosecution of Donald Trump for election obstruction.

Contents

Background

After Democratic nominee Joe Biden won the 2020 United States presidential election, Republican nominee and then-incumbent president Donald Trump pursued an effort to overturn the election, [a] with support from his campaign, proxies, political allies, and many of his supporters. These efforts culminated in the January 6 Capitol attack.

After the results of the election determined Trump had lost, he, his associates, and Republican Party officials in seven battleground states – Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin – devised a scheme to submit fraudulent certificates of ascertainment to falsely claim Trump had won the Electoral College vote in crucial states. [14]

Under US Attorney General Merrick Garland, the DOJ opened multiple investigations into events during the closing weeks of the Trump presidency, including one opened in early 2022 on the fake electors plot. [15] [16]

In November 2022, Garland appointed Jack Smith as an independent special counsel, responsible for overseeing two of the criminal investigations: one regarding Trump's role in the January 6 U.S. Capitol attack, and the other into alleged mishandling of government records, including classified documents; this included the fake electors scheme. [17] Trump was indicted in August 2023 on charges of conspiring to overturn the results, but the case was abandoned after Trump’s 2024 election win and a Justice Department legal opinion that sitting presidents cannot face federal prosecution. [18]

The investigation

According to a draft FBI internal document later published by Senator Chuck Grassley (the Republican chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee), the FBI characterized Arctic Frost as an investigation into what it described as a "multifaceted conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 Presidential Election so that former President Trump could remain in office." [2] [ non-primary source needed ] This draft FBI internal document said this involved subjects from the private sector in numerous battleground states (Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, Wisconsin, New Mexico, and Arizona), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the White House. [2] [ non-primary source needed ]

According to the draft document, Arctic Frost was a joint investigation between the FBI, DOJ Office of Inspector General (OIG), U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and National Archives and Records Administration (OIG). [2] The investigation was opened in April 2022 by Timothy Thibault, then-assistant special agent in charge at the FBI's Washington Field Office. [19] The "opening EC" (opening FBI predication document)[ clarification needed ] alleged that there were "specific and articulable facts" indicating that a number of individuals engaged in activity that violated federal law. [20] [21] According to FBI documents, this "opening EC" was approved by leaders at the FBI's Washington Field Office, the FBI General Counsel, and FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate. The FBI documents appeared to indicate that, because of the sensitivity of the investigation, the case opening was also approved by FBI Director Christopher Wray, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco and Attorney General Merrick Garland, pursuant to FBI and DOJ policy. [22] [23] [24] According to conservative lawyer Andrew McCarthy, the opening of the investigation was entirely appropriate. [25] [ better source needed ] At FBI Headquarters, Deputy Assistant Director Aaron Tapp provided policy oversight for sensitive case openings. [26] According to Grassley, whistleblower disclosures identified Special Agent Walter Giardina as the author of the investigation's targeting list and a point of contact on numerous subpoenas. [27] Both Tapp and Giardina were terminated by FBI Director Kash Patel in 2025. [28] [26]

The investigation was transferred to Special Counsel Jack Smith in November 2022. [3] Initially disclosed records showed Smith and the FBI used grand jury subpoenas to obtain phone records (but not call contents) from nine Republican politicians in 2023, covering four days surrounding the January 6 Capitol riot. [29] [30] The politicians were eight senators (Lindsey Graham, Bill Hagerty, Josh Hawley, Dan Sullivan, Tommy Tuberville, Ron Johnson, Cynthia Lummis, and Marsha Blackburn) and Representative Mike Kelly. [29] The investigation obtained phone toll records rather than wiretap content (see below).

According to Grassley and his colleague Ron Johnson, 200 pages of documents obtained by a whistleblower, released by the Senate Judiciary Committee on October 29, 2025, showed that Arctic Frost issued 197 subpoenas seeking records related to approximately 430 Republican individuals and entities. These filings also showed that the FBI obtained evidence that individuals tried to persuade former Vice President Mike Pence to support the false elector certificates. [20] [31] According to Grassley, the operation's 197 subpoenas were classified as "Prohibited Access" and included nondisclosure orders preventing recipients from notifying the targets, with some gag orders lasting "at least one year." [31] [32]

Representative Jamie Raskin, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, stated that "phone-record subpoenas and non-disclosure orders are routine in grand jury investigations at the state and federal level." [33] The phone records analysis was characterized in FBI documents as "preliminary toll analysis." [34] [35]

In November 2025, responding to the Judiciary Committee investigation, Verizon told House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan that his phone records were subpoenaed for a 28-month period from January 2020 through April 2022. [36] The FBI also physically seized the cell phone of Representative Scott Perry on August 9, 2022. [1] [37] According to Grassley, the FBI also obtained President Donald Trump's and Vice President Mike Pence's government-issued cell phones, with Biden White House assistance in facilitating the transfer. [38] [ non-primary source needed ]

According to documents Grassley described as whistleblower disclosures, released in September 2025, 92 Republican organizations and individuals were placed under the investigative scope of Arctic Frost, including Turning Point USA, the Republican National Committee, the Republican Attorneys General Association, the Conservative Partnership Institute, and the America First Policy Institute. [39] [ non-primary source needed ]

Grassley and his colleagues said that the documents they released in October 2025 identified 45 individuals as potential subjects of the investigation, including Steve Bannon, Rudy Giuliani, Jeffrey Clark, John Eastman, and Mark Meadows, with another 111 individuals—including Peter Navarro, Dan Scavino, and Ed Martin—also potentially under investigation. [40] [ clarification needed ] The subpoenas sought communications with media companies, members of Congress, White House advisors, donor lists, and comprehensive banking records. [31] [ non-primary source needed ]

Telecommunications carriers

Major telecommunications carriers responded differently to the subpoenas. AT&T refused to comply after questioning the legal basis for requesting records of members of Congress. In a letter to Senator Grassley, AT&T General Counsel David Chorzempa stated: "When AT&T raised questions with Special Counsel Smith's office concerning the legal basis for seeking records of members of Congress, the Special Counsel did not pursue the subpoena further, and no records were produced." [41]

Verizon complied with all subpoenas, producing phone records for 12 phone numbers associated with Republican lawmakers spanning January 4–7, 2021. [42] The company justified its compliance by stating the subpoenas were "facially valid" and that federal law required compliance. A Verizon spokesperson told Reuters: "We received a valid subpoena and a court order to keep it confidential. We weren't told why the information was requested or what the investigation was about." [43]

According to the Washington Times , following the revelations, Verizon announced policy changes requiring escalation to senior leadership before complying with subpoenas involving members of Congress. [44] Rich Young, Verizon's associate vice president of corporate communications, stated the company is "committed to restoring trust through transparency and will continue to work with Congress and the administration as they examine these issues and consider reforms to expand notification protections." [45]

Toll records vs. wiretapping

Senator Josh Hawley stated that the FBI "tapped my phone" and those of other senators. [46] However, the investigation obtained phone toll records (metadata showing call times, durations and numbers) rather than wiretapping (intercepting call content). Legal experts including Fordham University clinical associate law professor Cheryl Bader clarified: "The process 'was not a wiretap'. What was sought was basically a record of phone numbers dialed from a specific phone number." [47] Law enforcement agencies routinely obtain toll records through subpoenas and court orders to establish communication patterns and timelines in criminal and national security investigations. [48]

Intelligence and privacy experts have cautioned that metadata analysis can reveal substantial information about individuals. Stewart Baker, former NSA General Counsel, stated: "Metadata absolutely tells you everything about somebody's life. If you have enough metadata you don't really need content." [49] A 2016 peer-reviewed Stanford University study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that telephone metadata "is densely interconnected, can trivially be reidentified, enables automated location and relationship inferences, and can be used to determine highly sensitive traits." [50]

Public disclosure and aftermath

The investigation was initially publicly known as a probe into a "false electors scheme" when Special Counsel Jack Smith was appointed in November 2022, with the "Arctic Frost" codename and broader scope remaining undisclosed. Information about specific evidence sought and obtained by investigators emerged through documents released by Senator Chuck Grassley beginning in 2025.

On October 10, senators Tommy Tuberville, [b] Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson [b] wrote a letter to Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi demanding the release of all documents "in unredacted form" referring to the call logs of Members of Congress during the investigation of 4–7 January 2021. The letter was also signed by: [51]

On 15 October, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan requested Smith testify to his committee. [52] [53]

Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats, led by Ranking Member Dick Durbin, called for former Special Counsel Jack Smith to testify publicly before the committee about the Arctic Frost investigation. In an October 30, 2025 letter to Chairman Grassley, Durbin and all Senate Judiciary Democrats urged Grassley to invite Smith to testify and requested that the Department of Justice release Volume II of the unredacted "Final Report of the Special Counsel's Investigations and Prosecutions," which was submitted to then-Attorney General Merrick Garland in January 2025. [54] Smith had previously offered in October 2025 to appear publicly before the committee to address what he characterized as "the many mischaracterizations" of his investigations. [55] Chairman Grassley responded that "hearings should follow once the investigative foundation has been firmly set," stating he was working with DOJ and FBI to collect relevant records. [55]

In October and November 2025, FBI Director Kash Patel disbanded the CR-15 Public Corruption Unit at the Washington Field Office and dismissed multiple agents who had worked on Arctic Frost. [56] In November 2025, at least four agents were terminated, with some briefly reinstated (at the intervention of US Attorney Jeanine Pirro because the agents were involved in Trump's deployment of Federal agents in Washington DC) before being terminated again. [57] [58] [59] The FBI Agents Association criticized the dismissals as "a campaign of erratic and arbitrary retribution," stating that "an agent simply being assigned to an investigation and conducting it appropriately within the law should never be grounds for termination." [57] [59] [60] According to CNN, "The reversals marked an unusual moment where the Trump-appointed US attorney has tried to override a decision of other political appointees as the FBI weathers dozens of firings. It also highlights the continued push by some leaders in the Trump administration to gouge the bureau of experienced investigators who had worked on past cases tied to Trump." [59]

By November 1, Grassley's Senate Judiciary Committee had released over 1,700 pages of documents obtained through legally protected whistleblowers. [61] [62] Grassley did not redact the names of FBI or Justice Department employees, stating that "public servants have no right to hide what they have done" from taxpayers; [63] some employees were subsequently harassed on social media after their names were made public. [58]

Boasberg impeachment effort

On November 4, 2025, Republican Representative Brandon Gill filed articles of impeachment against Judge James Boasberg, who had signed the subpoenas and nondisclosure orders for the investigation. [64] This was Gill's second impeachment resolution against Boasberg; he had previously filed articles in March 2025 over Boasberg's rulings blocking Trump administration deportation efforts. [64] Local rules for the D.C. federal court state that the chief judge "must hear and determine all proceedings before the grand jury," suggesting Boasberg's role in signing the orders was procedural. [65]

On November 18, 2025, six Republican senators sent a letter to D.C. Circuit Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan calling for Boasberg's administrative suspension pending impeachment proceedings. The letter, led by Senator Eric Schmitt and signed by Senators Mike Lee, Tommy Tuberville, Lindsey Graham, Kevin Cramer, and Bill Hagerty, stated: "Chief Judge Boasberg should be administratively suspended pending formal impeachment by the House of Representatives and, if impeached, an impeachment trial by the Senate." [66] [67] Senator Ted Cruz, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, called Boasberg "a partisan, left-wing activist" who "needs to be removed from office." [64]

Chief Justice John Roberts responded with a rare statement, cautioning that "impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision." [68] On December 3, 2025, the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution scheduled a hearing on impeachment of federal judges; Boasberg declined an invitation to appear. [64]

Federal funding bill, November 2025

The Arctic Frost disclosures occurred during the October 2025 federal government shutdown, and played a part in the funding package lawmakers voted on to end the shutdown. Senate Majority Leader John Thune secured a provision to award hundreds of thousands of dollars to senators subpoenaed in Smith's investigation. The provision allowed senators to sue the DOJ for damages, with a minimum of $500,000 per violation, and applied retroactively to 2022. The bill also required the DOJ and FBI to notify the Senate when a lawmaker is under investigation. [69] [70] However, of the eight known Senate Republicans whose phone records were subpoenaed, only one, Lindsey Graham, said he would use the provision, with others, such as Josh Hawley, distancing themselves. [71] [70]

House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson promised to hold a vote for a bill that would repeal the provision. [71] On November 19, 2025, the House voted 426-0 to repeal the provision, with both Republicans and Democrats criticizing it as self-serving. [72]

As of November 20, Senate Majority Leader John Thune had not committed to bringing the repeal to a vote in the Senate. [73] Senate Democrats, led by Senators Martin Heinrich and Mark Kelly, introduced the "Anti-Cash Grab Act" to repeal the provision. [74]

Reactions

Historical context

Congressional phone records have previously been subpoenaed in federal investigations. In 2017–2018, the Trump administration's DOJ secretly obtained records of Representatives Eric Swalwell and Adam Schiff, along with 43 staffers, as part of a leak investigation. [75] The investigations closed without criminal charges. [76] Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz reviewed the matter in December 2024, finding no evidence of political motivation but concluding the DOJ "failed to take sufficient account of constitutional separation of powers." [75] The review prompted the DOJ to strengthen oversight procedures for obtaining congressional records. [77] Following the Arctic Frost disclosures, Swalwell asked why many Republicans objecting to Smith's subpoenas had not objected when his records were obtained. [78]

Political responses

After the disclosure, President Donald Trump criticized Special Counsel Jack Smith and called for his prosecution. [79] Other officials called for further review of the matter. [80]

FBI Director Kash Patel and Senate majority leader John Thune criticized the investigation as an abuse of power. [81] Patel stated the agents "weaponized law enforcement against the American people" and announced the firings and unit disbandment. [34]

Attorneys for Special Counsel Jack Smith defended the investigation as "entirely proper, lawful, and consistent with established Department of Justice policy." [82] Smith's attorneys defended the investigation as "entirely proper, lawful, and consistent with established Department of Justice policy," noting that career officials in DOJ's Public Integrity Section approved the subpoenas and that the limited temporal range was "consistent with a focused effort" to verify news reports about calls to senators regarding election certification. [83]

Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) stated the surveillance "would strike me as a significant invasion of the right of Senators to conduct their jobs, so this is something that needs urgent follow-up." [84]

Attorney General Pam Bondi testified on October 7, 2025, that Arctic Frost represented "an unconstitutional, undemocratic abuse of power." [85] [86] [87]

Conservative legal scholar Andrew C. McCarthy of the National Review defended the investigation, writing "The notion that there was something scandalous about leadership at the DOJ and FBI approving an investigation into conduct that resulted in viable criminal charges is ridiculous." [88]

Stanley Brand, a senior fellow at Penn State Dickinson Law and former counsel to the House of Representatives, noted that the investigation "seemed to go against the Constitution's separation of powers doctrine" because certification of presidential elections falls within Congress's constitutional jurisdiction. [89] Legal experts offered differing views on Fourth Amendment implications. Cheryl Bader, a former federal prosecutor and clinical associate law professor at Fordham University, stated that obtaining phone metadata is not legally a "search" requiring a warrant, citing the Supreme Court's 1979 ruling in Smith v. Maryland that pen registers collecting call information do not violate Fourth Amendment protections. [89] [90] However, Brett Tolman, a former federal prosecutor and chair of American justice at the America First Policy Institute, argued that the investigation demonstrated insufficient "guardrails" on FBI intelligence-gathering powers expanded after the September 11 attacks. [89]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Attributed to multiple references: [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Targeted by investigation [34]

References

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  3. 1 2 Barrett, Devlin; Stein, Perry (November 18, 2022). "Merrick Garland names special counsel for Trump, Jan. 6 investigations". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
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  32. ↑ Schoffstall, Joe (October 29, 2025). "Jack Smith sought 197 subpoenas in Arctic Frost probe, new records show". Washington Examiner. Retrieved December 3, 2025.
  33. ↑ Thorp, Frank; Leach, Brennan; Coronell Uribe, Raquel (November 11, 2025). "Bipartisan funding bill would allow senators to sue over government searches of their phone records". NBC News. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
  34. 1 2 3 Senate Judiciary Committee (October 6, 2025). "Biden FBI Spied on Eight Republican Senators as Part of Arctic Frost Investigation, Grassley Oversight Reveals". United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary.
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  36. ↑ "Jim Jordan Says His Phone Records Subpoenaed in Arctic Frost Probe". Newsweek. November 21, 2025.
  37. ↑ "Rep. Scott Perry, a top Trump ally, says FBI agents seized his cellphone". NBC News. August 10, 2022.
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  59. 1 2 3 Polantz, Katelyn; Perez, Evan (November 4, 2025). "Top DC federal prosecutor Jeanine Pirro intervened to reverse the firings of at least 4 FBI agents. It was short lived". CNN. Retrieved December 2, 2025.
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  66. ↑ "Senator Schmitt Leads Colleagues in Calling for the Suspension, Impeachment of Judge Boasberg". United States Senate. November 18, 2025.
  67. ↑ "Senators ask DC Circuit to suspend Boasberg pending impeachment vote". Washington Examiner. November 20, 2025.
  68. ↑ "Senator Tuberville calls for impeachment of Chief Judge Boasberg". WSFA. November 20, 2025.
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  70. 1 2 "'Arctic Frost': What to know about the controversial provision tucked into the funding bill". CNN. November 17, 2025. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
  71. 1 2 Fuchs, Hailey (November 13, 2025). "Senators distance themselves from controversial payout provision". POLITICO. Retrieved December 2, 2025.
  72. ↑ Cole, Devan (November 19, 2025). "House moves to repeal controversial 'Arctic Frost' provision that allows GOP senators to seek $500,000 payouts". CNN.
  73. ↑ "House votes to repeal Senate's $500k perk for seized phone records". Axios. November 20, 2025.
  74. ↑ "Senate Democrats introduce bill to strike down $500k phone record provision". The Hill.
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  85. ↑ Senate Judiciary Committee (October 7, 2025). "Grassley Questions Bondi at DOJ Oversight Hearing". United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary.
  86. ↑ Tarinelli, Ryan (October 7, 2025). "Pamela Bondi stonewalls Democrats at DOJ oversight hearing". Roll Call. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
  87. ↑ Popat, Shrai (October 7, 2025). "Bondi spars over Epstein but stays silent on Comey: takeaways from a tense hearing". The Guardian. Retrieved December 2, 2025.
  88. ↑ Dilanian, Ken; Leonnig, Carol (October 31, 2025). "FBI official connected to Trump 2020 election investigation being pushed out, sources say". MSNBC.com. Retrieved October 31, 2025.
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  90. ↑ "Fact-checking Hawley's claims that the FBI 'tapped' his and other senators' phones". PBS NewsHour. October 9, 2025. Retrieved November 26, 2025.

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