Senator Chuck Grassley, Republican of Iowa, on Monday released declassified documents that he says reveal the FBI under President Biden secretly collected data from the personal cell phones of several Republican senators.
The disclosure has ignited new outrage on Capitol Hill over what Grassley called the “weaponization” of federal law enforcement against political opponents.
According to the documents, which include redacted case files, the operation — titled “ARCTIC FROST—Election Law Matters—SENSITIVE INVESTIGATIVE MATTER—CAST” — was launched in April 2022 and assigned to Special Counsel Jack Smith, the same prosecutor overseeing high-profile cases involving President Donald Trump. The investigation reportedly involved the use of “tolling data,” a method that allows authorities to track phone communications without accessing their contents.
The list of lawmakers allegedly targeted is striking in its political scope: Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, as well as Representative Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania.
“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 announcing the release. The senator, who has long positioned himself as a watchdog over government misconduct, said the documents demonstrate a “shocking and deliberate abuse of surveillance powers for political purposes.”
The FBI has not commented publicly on the allegations, and the Department of Justice did not immediately respond to requests for clarification. The case ID on the document, however, explicitly ties the investigation to election-related matters — an area that has drawn increased scrutiny amid the Justice Department’s politically charged prosecutions since 2021.
Grassley, the most senior Republican in the Senate, called on Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel to launch a full internal probe and to make public any communications connected to the Arctic Frost program. “Americans deserve transparency,” he said. “The use of federal surveillance tools against elected officials undermines faith in our democracy and cannot be tolerated.”
Senator Josh Hawley, one of those named in the documents, backed Grassley’s demand for accountability. “If true, this represents a gross abuse of power by the Biden administration,” Hawley said. “No administration — Republican or Democrat — has the right to spy on its political rivals.”
The revelations mark the latest flashpoint in a widening debate over whether federal law enforcement agencies have been politicized under the current administration. Grassley has spent much of the past two years investigating alleged misconduct at the Justice Department, repeatedly warning that “unchecked surveillance powers” could be turned against domestic political opponents.
The senator’s claim that the Arctic Frost program was “worse than Watergate” underscores the depth of Republican anger. “In Watergate, political operatives broke into an office,” a senior GOP aide said. “Here, it’s the federal government itself doing the spying.”
As the controversy unfolds, congressional Republicans are expected to press for hearings and demand testimony from current and former Justice Department officials involved in the Arctic Frost investigation. Grassley has vowed to keep pressing for answers: “The truth will come out,” he said Monday. “And those responsible will be held accountable.”
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