Grassley sheds light on his probe into Jack Smith's Arctic Frost investigation

Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley on Wednesday updated senators about his oversight and investigation into former Special Counsel Jack Smith and his Arctic Frost operation. 

Grassley has led a wide-ranging investigation into Smith and his alleged efforts to prosecute President Donald Trump and his allies. The chairman even learned that Smith subpoenaed phone records of multiple GOP senators during his investigation, including Tennessee Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn and Florida GOP Sen. Rick Scott.

"Arctic Frost was not just about putting President Trump in prison, but it was a means to an end," Grassley said on the Senate floor. "That end that the Arctic Frost investigation sought was a vehicle by which partisan FBI agents and partisan DOJ prosecutors could improperly investigate the entire Republican political apparatus. 

"As Arctic Frost became Smith’s election case, it also targeted over 400 Republican groups and individuals," he continued. "Recently, Sen. [Ron] Johnson and I have exposed that the Special Counsel’s office obtained phone records of at least 11 senators and six members of the House of Representatives. All of them Republican." 

Grassley said that the subpoenas also came with court-ordered one-year nondisclosure orders, which were signed by U.S. District Judge James Boasberg.

The senator further explained that emails have shown that Smith's office communicated with the Biden administration's Justice Department about the subpoenas and was warned that it could violate the Speech and Debate Clause of the Constitution, which protects members of Congress from legal action for speech on the floor of Congress.

"Jack Smith took this egregious action even though [he] and his team knew case law was clear that legislators could challenge the grand jury subpoena on the grounds it violated the Speech and Debate Clause of the Constitution," Grassley said. 

Grassley highlighted that Republicans weren't able to oppose the subpoenas because of the nondisclosure orders.

"The volume of subpoenas issued by the Special Counsel’s office should’ve raised alarms with Judge Boasberg and any other judges involved in issuing those subpoenas," he said. "Alarms that maybe congressional records could’ve been swept up by the government’s conduct.

"Did Boasberg and others even ask the question?" he continued. "Was even a small amount of due diligence done? Boasberg and others won’t say. Not asking these simple questions appear to be a clear dereliction of duty." 

The comments come after Texas GOP Rep. Brandon Gill filed articles of impeachment against Boasberg last month.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.