The FBI spied on eight Senate Republicans and a House Republican lawmaker in 2023 during the Justice Department’s broad inquiry into the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election.
Senate Republicans held a press conference Monday to disclose the information. A newly uncovered FBI document related to Arctic Frost revealed that the Biden-era investigation led to special counsel Jack Smith’s indictment of President Trump on charges related to election interference.
Arctic Frost was initially launched in 2022 to investigate the circumstances surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. The call records secretly obtained by the FBI date from Jan. 4 through Jan. 7, 2021, and appear to be tied to the Republican lawmakers’ votes to certify the 2020 election results.
Sen. Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican, called the revelations of spying “worse than Watergate.”
An FBI document dated Sept. 27, 2023 and partly redacted, indicated an unidentified FBI special agent “conducted preliminary toll analysis on limited toll records” for Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Bill Haggerty of Tennessee and Josh Hawley of Missouri, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Cynthia Lumis of Wyoming and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee.
A toll analysis is a term used to describe analyzing cellphone calls and records. The document is labeled “CAST Assistance,” in reference to the bureau’s cellular analysis survey team.
The Senate Judiciary Committee said the data recovered in the spy operation “shows when and to whom a call is made, as well as the duration and general location data of the call.”
The data does not include the content of the call.
The FBI memo also listed Mike Kelly among those spied upon. Mr. Kelly is a Republican House lawmaker from Pennsylvania, one of the swing states where Mr. Biden’s victory was razor-thin and where Mr. Trump contested the result.
FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement Monday that the bureau “uncovered proof that the phone records of U.S. lawmakers were seized for political purposes.” He pledged that the FBI will “never again be weaponized against the American people.”
Outraged Senate Republicans learned of the spying in a private meeting Monday on Capitol Hill with FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino.
Some of the same senators were targeted in 2016 when the Obama administration’s Justice Department spied on the Trump transition team after he won the presidential election.
“This is major corruption that is being revealed inside the Obama and Biden Department of Justice and FBI,” said Mr. Johnson, who has been investigating Arctic Frost. “This doesn’t surprise me, but it should shock every American of what the Biden administration has done.”
He called on more whistleblowers to help expose additional hidden records.
Republicans said the spying shows the Justice Department was casting a wide net and targeting Republican lawmakers.
The spying started two months after the FBI raided Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida, and it closely followed the June and August 2023 federal indictments against Mr. Trump over his possession of classified documents and charges of attempting to overturn the presidential election.
Mr. Haggerty called the disclosure of the FBI’s spying on Congress an extraordinary revelation.
“The only thing we have in common on this list is we are all Republicans,” he said. “This is as partisan as it gets. It has to be addressed. It has to be resolved. It has to happen today.”
The investigation into the Arctic Frost inquiry so far has revealed considerable targeting of Republican-leaning groups, among them Turning Point USA, which Charlie Kirk headed before he was assassinated Sept. 10 in Utah. Kirk and Turning Point USA helped Mr. Trump win the 2024 presidential election by bolstering support among young voters.
Republicans now say Arctic Frost was a coordinated effort to target Mr. Trump and his political allies.
The document, the senators said, was discovered in a “prohibited access file” within the FBI and in response to an oversight request from Mr. Grassley.
“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 [Pam] Bondi and Director Patel need to hold accountable those involved in this serious wrongdoing,” Mr. Grassley said.
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.