Bombshell document showing FBI snooped on Congress renews scrutiny on Jack Smith, Chris Wray

The revelation that the FBI snooped on the phone records of Republican members of Congress during its January 6 investigation is bringing greater scrutiny to then-FBI Director Christopher Wray, during whose tenure the bureau effort occurred, and to then-Special Counsel Jack Smith, who was leading the Biden Justice Department’s investigation into Donald Trump.

Smith and the FBI reportedly collected the private phone records of eight Republican senators and one GOP House member as part of his investigation into the Capitol riot of January 6, 2021.

Biden's FBI targeted Republicans for communications snooping

An unearthed FBI record from 2023 indicated that investigators at the bureau had “conducted preliminary toll analysis on limited toll records” tied to phone calls related to GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn.; Josh Hawley, R-Mo.; Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska; Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala.; Ron Johnson R-Wisc.; Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo.; Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.; and GOP Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa.

“This document shows the Biden FBI spied on 8 of my Republican Senate colleagues during its Arctic Frost investigation into ‘election conspiracy’ Arctic Frost later became Jack Smith's elector case against Trump,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said in a Monday afternoon tweet as he shared the FBI record that had been provided to him by current FBI Director Kash Patel: “BIDEN FBI WEAPONIZATION = WORSE THAN WATERGATE.”

A source familiar with the matter who declined to be named told Just the News that the phone record search was conducted pursuant to a grand jury subpoena.

Chris Piehota, a former Executive Assistant Director of the FBI, told Just the News, No Noise on Monday night that “absolutely” Wray must have been involved in approving the move to collect information on the phone records of members of Congress, saying that “he would have been briefed on it, and he would have given his concurrence, no doubt.”

The once-secret FBI record, dated late September 2023, has the title of "CAST Assistance" — a likely reference to the bureau’s cellular analysis survey team. The case ID for the record is "ARCTIC FROST — Election Law Matters — SENSITIVE INVESTIGATIVE MATTER — CAST."

Biden-era DOJ, FBI used as political weapons

Patel tweeted on Monday that “we recently uncovered proof that phone records of U.S. lawmakers were seized for political purposes” and “that abuse of power ends now.”

Just the News confirmed in August that the Hatch Act Unit of the Office of Special Counsel (OSC), led by Trump-appointed Acting Special Counsel Jamieson Greer, had opened an investigation into Smith related to the cases he had pursued against Trump. The OSC says that “the Hatch Act Unit enforces compliance with the Act by investigating alleged Hatch Act violations.” The OSC further says that the Hatch Act “limits certain political activities of federal employees … to ensure that federal programs are administered in a nonpartisan fashion.”

Grassley's office said Monday that "the FBI in 2023 sought and obtained data about the senators’ phone use" from January 4, 2021 through January 7, 2021 (the day after the Capitol riot). The senator's office said that "that data shows when and to whom a call is made, as well as the duration and general location data of the call" although not the contents of the calls themselves.

Grassley: "Worse than Watergate"

The Senate chairman's office revealed that the FBI document "was found in a Prohibited Access file in response to Grassley’s oversight requests."

“Based on the evidence to-date, Arctic Frost and related weaponization by federal law enforcement under Biden was arguably worse than Watergate,” Grassley said in a Monday evening statement. “What I’ve uncovered today is disturbing and outrageous political conduct by the Biden FBI. The FBI’s actions were an unconstitutional breach, and Attorney General Bondi and Director Patel need to hold accountable those involved in this serious wrongdoing.”

Bassem Youssef, a retired unit chief for the FBI’s counterterrorism division, told "Just the News, No Noise" on Monday night that the targeting of members of the House and Senate was highly unusual.

“You’re talking about members of the Congress and the Senate. Those are protected entities. … When you talk about members of Congress… those are highly sensitive targets that demand a higher level of predication for getting the authority,” Youssef said. “And so to me, the fact that this was done on just the GOP side of the House is already a big flag.”

Youssef added: “Now, the window between January 4 and January 7 would be the window when Congress was preparing to certify the election, which is clearly a function of Congress, it's actually protected by the Constitution.”

Grassley and Johnson released records in January which his office said showed now-former FBI assistant special agent in charge Timothy Thibault “authored the initial language for what ultimately became Jack Smith’s federal case against Trump regarding the 2020 presidential election.” The senators said that "records show Thibault essentially opened and approved his own investigation” — which was dubbed “Arctic Frost.”

Thibault retired from the bureau in 2022 after his anti-Trump social media postings were revealed.

The senators further revealed in March that the FBI’s Arctic Frost investigation also “acquired the government cell phones of President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence, among other government officials.”

Merrick Garland, then-Attorney General in January 2022 declared “there is no higher priority for us at the Department of Justice” than going after those involved with January 6, calling the DOJ’s inquiry “one of the largest, most complex, and most resource-intensive investigations in our history.”

Garland announced in early January of this year, before being replaced by Pam Bondi, that “We have now charged more than 1,500 individuals for crimes that occurred on January 6, as well as in the days and weeks leading up to the attack," on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6, 2021.

Wray claimed in a February 2022 speech that the FBI was working just as hard to punish those involved in the 2020 George Floyd riots as it was to prosecute those tied to the Capitol riot.

The FBI raided Trump’s Florida resort home of Mar-a-Lago in August 2022 with the authorization of Garland. He appointed Smith to be special counsel in November 2022.

Request to investigate Smith

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., urged the Office of Special Counsel – led by Acting Special Counsel Jamieson Greer – to investigate Smith in a letter sent in July, arguing Smith had improperly attempted to influence the 2024 election.

“I write requesting the Office of Special Counsel to investigate whether Jack Smith, Special Counsel for Attorney General Merrick Garland, unlawfully took political actions to influence the 2024 election to harm then-candidate President Donald Trump,” Cotton wrote. 

“As the Office of the Special Counsel is tasked with ensuring federal employees aren't conducting partisan political activity under the guise of their federal employment, you're well situated to determine whether Smith broke the law. Many of Smith's legal actions seem to have no rationale except for an attempt to affect the 2024 election results-actions that would violate federal law.”

Cotton argued that Smith’s “actions were not standard, necessary, or justified—unless Smith's real purpose was to influence the election” and contended that the former special counsel “regularly used farfetched and aggressive legal theories to prosecute the Republican nominee for president.” The Arkansas Republican said that “Trump's astounding victory doesn't excuse Smith of responsibility for his unlawful election interference” and said he wanted the Office of Special Counsel “to investigate whether Jack Smith or any members of his team unlawfully acted for political purposes.”

Smith’s lawyers from the Covington & Burling law firm sent their own letter to Greer in August defending their client, arguing that “Smith’s actions as special counsel were consistent with the decisions of a prosecutor who has devoted his career to following the facts and the law, without fear or favor and without regard for the political consequences, not because of them.”

The former special counsel’s attorneys argued that “Mr. Smith was fiercely committed to making prosecutorial decisions based solely on the evidence, he steadfastly followed Department of Justice guidelines and the Principles of Federal Prosecution, and he did not let the pending election influence his investigative or prosecutorial decision-making.”

Smith’s team added that they believed that the basis for an OSC inquiry into their client was “imaginary and unfounded.”

Smith did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent to him by Just the News through his lawyers.

Who approved spying and on what basis?

The action by Wray’s FBI and by Smith’s special counsel team to snoop on the phone records of GOP members of the Senate and House is likely to factor into the OSC inquiry.

“This matter is going to be approved and reviewed and scrutinized at the highest levels of the FBI and the Department of Justice when you're looking at conducting electronic surveillance on our national leaders,” Piehota told "Just the News, No Noise" on Monday night. “So you have to look at that level of review and scrutiny. As far as where Jack Smith comes in, he had to probably show adequate predication with his investigative work that he was able to convince the FBI and Department of Justice to go and obtain these records. So I'd love to see what the predication was, and I'd love to see how it was presented, and who approved and knew of these actions prior to the implementation.”

Smith and the Biden DOJ charged Trump in June 2023 over allegations related to the improper retention of classified documents, followed by a superseding indictment the next month. The then-special counsel then indicted Trump in August 2023 related to the then-former president’s alleged actions surrounding the 2020 election, with superseding charges in August 2024.

Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed Smith’s classified documents case against Trump in July 2024, ruling that Smith had been unlawfully appointed as special counsel. Smith attempted to appeal the ruling but soon dropped it after Trump won the 2024 election against then-Vice President Kamala Harris.

Judge Tanya Chutkan dismissed the January 6-related case against Trump in November 2024 after Trump’s win, pointing to the Office of Legal Counsel’s position that a sitting president could not be prosecuted by his own DOJ. Smith released his report on his January 6-related effort against Trump in January of this year, a couple of weeks before Trump’s second inauguration.

Trump issued pardons and commutations in January of this year to the hundreds of defendants who had been charged by the DOJ for their involvement in the Capitol riot. Some were sentenced to as long as 18 years behind bars. By contrast, Nicholas Roske, a 29-year-old from Simi Valley, California, was sentenced last week to eight years for attempting to murder Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.