Grassley, Johnson Release Records Showing FBI Obtained Trump, Pence Cell Phones, Conducted Sweeping Interviews to Advance Anti-Trump Arctic Frost Investigation
In a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) made public legally protected whistleblower disclosures showing the FBI, as part of its Arctic Frost investigation, acquired the government cell phones of President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence, among other government officials. FBI agents used taxpayer dollars to crisscross the country and conduct dozens of interviews in support of the political probe.
The unclassified FBI records convey the alarming scope and speed of the FBI’s 2022 investigation of President Trump, which they dubbed “Operation Arctic Frost.” The investigation – launched by anti-Trump FBI agent Timothy Thibault in a breach of FBI protocol – formed the basis of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s elector case against Trump. Upon opening the investigation, Thibault vowed it would be “prioritized over all others in the Branch” and commented that “it frankly took too long for us to open this [investigation].”