While it might not reach the level of being “worse than Watergate,” as suggested by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, the Biden FBI’s covert retrieval of phone records from nine Republican members of Congress, including eight current senators, represents a recent low in using law enforcement for partisan purposes.
The Justice Department’s Arctic Frost investigation began in April 2022 under Assistant Special Agent in Charge Timothy Thibault, reportedly a strong anti-Trump supporter, before Special Counsel Jack Smith, who has been described similarly, took over in November. Initially, it was supposed to investigate 2020 election interference but eventually turned into a sprawling fiasco.
Current Justice Department and FBI leaders only recently discovered this misuse of power and have yet to explain why the Biden administration specifically targeted Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), 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.), and Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.).
All of them, indeed, expressed concerns about potential voter fraud following the 2020 election or supported President Donald Trump’s post-election legal actions, yet many others in Congress did the same.
Worse, Arctic Frost morphed into FBI scrutiny of at least 92 right-wing groups and individuals, including Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA.
While Smith was formally “independent,” the Justice Department still has a duty to rein in special counsels who go witch-hunting.
And secretly pulling the phone records of Republican electeds, simply because they were Republicans, is egregiously beyond the pale.
Was Attorney General Merrick Garland under orders to look the other way?
FBI Director Kash Patel mentioned he has dismissed several agents involved in the significant privacy breach known as Operation Arctic Frost, but it is essential for Congress to subpoena Smith, former FBI Director Christopher Wray, and any others who facilitated these abuses.
It was troubling enough when no repercussions occurred after the Obama CIA was caught spying on the Senate Intelligence Committee (its own overseers!) in 2014; this situation is even more severe.
And as Grassley warns: “If heads don’t roll in this town, nothing changes.”
