WASHINGTON — Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) released additional FBI files Wednesday revealing that hundreds more Republican groups and persons were targeted in a “fishing expedition” brought by special counsel Jack Smith.
In a press conference alongside other GOP senators, Grassley announced that he was making public the 197 subpoenas issued by Smith as part of the Arctic Frost probe, which became “the vehicle by which FBI agents and DOJ prosecutors could improperly investigate the entire Republican political apparatus.”
“I’ve obtained through legally protected whistleblower disclosures,” Grassley said. “197 subpoenas were issued by Jack Smith and his team. These subpoenas were issued to 34 individuals and 163 businesses, including financial institutions.
“The subpoena requested records and communications related to over 430 individual and organizations — all of them appear to be aimed at Republicans,” the Iowa Republican added, noting requests sent to the late conservative icon Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA and the Republican Attorneys General Association.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), one of the nine Republicans whose phone metadata was sought, said “Arctic Frost is Joe Biden’s Watergate.”
“Merrick Garland was a fundamentally corrupt attorney general. Jack Smith was a fundamentally corrupt prosecutor. This was a political enemies list from the beginning,” he told reporters, brandishing the court order that demanded AT&T hand over his cell records to the feds.
The order was signed by US District Court Chief Judge James Boasberg and barred the cell carrier from letting Cruz know about the request “for at least one year,” he said.
The Texas Republican and others called for Boasberg’s impeachment in the House, with Cruz claiming the judge was “abusing his power” by asserting in the order there were “reasonable grounds to believe that such disclosure will result in destruction of or tampering with evidence, intimidation of potential witnesses and serious jeopardy to the investigation.”
“We don’t know that for a fact, but I feel confident that he concluded it’s likely that Lindsey Graham would destroy evidence and Marsha Blackburn would destroy evidence, and Eric Schmitt would destroy evidence, and Chuck Grassley would destroy evidence,” Cruz went on.
“If a judge signs an order reaching a factual conclusion for which there is zero evidence whatsoever, that judge is abusing his power. I am right now calling on the House of Representatives to impeach Judge Boasberg.”
Boasberg issued a scathing order against the Trump administration earlier this year to halt deportation flights of alleged MS-13, Tren de Aragua and other gang members from the US to a Salvadoran mega-prison.
“Judge James E. Boasberg,” Cruz seethed, “that radical leftist judge who is out of control, who has been issuing nationwide injunctions one after the other trying to stop President Trump from carrying out his mandate for the voters.”
Other Republican senators echoed the call, with Schmitt of Missouri demanding “Watergate-style hearings” in Congress over the bombshell files.
The FBI disclosures prompted outrage from the other senators in the room, most of whom had their so-called “toll analysis,” or phone metadata, requested by the Biden Department of Justice.
Smith’s investigation also uncovered a subpoena to an unidentified person “relating to communications with media companies such as CBS, Fox News, Fox Business, Newsmax, Sinclair, and others,” according to Grassley.
Several White House insiders — including Stephen Miller, Dan Scavino, Jared Kushner and Lara Trump — were also targeted, along with Republican donors.
“Contrary to what Smith has said publicly, this was a fishing expedition,” Grassley declared. “If this had happened to Democrats, they’d be as rightly outraged as we are outraged.”
The probe resulted in a four-count indictment against Trump related to his attempts to overturn the 2020 election that culminated in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
Garland, Deputy AG Lisa Monaco and FBI Director Christopher Wray all authorized the investigation, according to other files released by Grassley.
The Senate Judiciary Committee chairman previously published FBI records that showed that at least nine Republican lawmakers in Congress had their call logs requested by Smith’s team from phone carriers.
“I am looking forward to bringing Jack Smith before us,” added Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who recently referred the former prosecutor to the DOJ office dealing with professional misconduct and pushed two state bars to consider disciplining him.
Cruz revealed in Wednesday’s press conference that AT&T refused to comply with the subpoena for his phone records, claiming Arctic Frost had engaged in an unconstitutional attempt to infringe on speech rights.
Reps for Smith and Boasberg did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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