The attorney general, along with some GOP lawmakers, has called for accountability, calling the Arctic Frost investigation an abuse of power.
Attorney General Pam Bondi has said that Special Counsel Jack Smith seized President Donald Trump’s government-issued phone as part of the “Arctic Frost” investigation, calling the action “unprecedented.”
“During the Arctic Frost investigation, we found that Special Counsel seized President Trump’s government-issued phone,” Bondi wrote in a Nov. 4 statement posted on social media. “This means the Biden Administration turned over President Trump’s phone to Special Counsel—an UNPRECEDENTED action.”
Bondi noted that Smith also subpoenaed all of Trump’s personal phone records, which she said exemplified the misuse of prosecutorial power for political ends.
“We can never again allow this kind of government weaponization in America,” she wrote, noting that she had submitted new documents about the seizure to congressional investigators and commended “our team at the FBI for working diligently to expose this.”
The disclosure is the latest in a series of revelations surrounding Arctic Frost, the codename for a far-reaching federal probe into alleged efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election using alternate slates of electors.
The investigation—launched in 2022 and approved as a “Sensitive Investigative Matter” by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland—served as the foundation for Smith’s 2023 prosecution of Trump on charges related to election interference. Those charges were dropped after Trump won reelection in 2024.
Senate Investigation Reveals Scope of Probe
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has led months of investigations into the origins and scope of Arctic Frost, releasing documents and testimony suggesting that the FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ) under President Joe Biden improperly targeted hundreds of Republican figures and organizations.
During an Oct. 29 press conference, Grassley said Smith’s office had issued 197 subpoenas for testimony, communications, and records covering at least 430 individuals and entities—including the Republican Attorneys General Association and conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA.
“Arctic Frost was the vehicle by which partisan FBI agents and DOJ prosecutors could improperly investigate the entire Republican political apparatus,” Grassley said. “Contrary to what [Jack] Smith has said publicly, this was clearly a fishing expedition.”
He said many of the subpoenas sought communications with members of Congress, media outlets, or White House advisers—raising concerns about overreach and potential violations of legislative privilege.
“If this happened to the Democrats, they’d be as rightly outraged as we are,” Grassley said.
By Tom Ozimek
