FBI Director Kash Patel said employees involved in the effort have been terminated.
The FBI tracked Republican senators as part of its Arctic Frost investigation, a newly disclosed document shows.
FBI agents obtained data on the cellphone use of Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), according to the document, which was made public by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Oct. 6.
They obtained information known as toll records from the phones. The data shows where, when, and to whom a call is made. It doesn’t include the content of the call, according to senators.
The document was dated Sept. 27, 2023, after President Donald Trump was charged by grand juries presented with cases by special counsel Jack Smith.
Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) was also tracked.
“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 statement.
He described the FBI’s actions in the investigation as “an unconstitutional breach” and called on FBI Director Kash Patel to hold accountable the personnel involved.
An automated message from the FBI’s press office indicated that a response to a request for comment would not be coming immediately because of the government shutdown.
Patel wrote on X on Oct. 7 that he and other leaders have promised transparency, and in the wake of the latest disclosure of “the baseless monitoring of members of Congress by the prior leadership team of the FBI,” the agency has terminated employees, eliminated the FBI’s public corruption team, and started an investigation that he said will lead to additional measures.
Attorney General Pam Bondi told lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Oct. 7 that Arctic Frost was “an unconstitutional, undemocratic abuse of power.”
When asked whether she had sought waivers of secrecy so all documents related to Arctic Frost could be produced to Congress, Bondi said she would be working with Patel.
“There’s not much more we can say about the issue, for obvious reasons, at this time,” she said.
This information has also drawn the ire of The White House.
“The Biden administration’s weaponization of the justice system against their political opponents is one of the biggest corruption scandals in American history,” White House Spokesman Kush Desai told The Epoch Times. “The Trump administration will continue to restore accountability and trust in our government.”
