President Joe Biden’s administration spied on the private phone communications of eight Republican senators and one congressman as part of former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the January 6 riot, newly disclosed documents show.
FBI Director Kash Patel revealed Monday that Smith’s “Arctic Frost” team subpoenaed telephone providers in 2023 for toll records of Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, along with Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania.
The FBI spied on what phone numbers the lawmakers called, the locations where calls originated, the locations where they were received, and the duration of each call. The records covered January 4 through January 7, 2021, the period surrounding Congress’s certification of the 2020 election. The data did not include the content of the calls.
An FBI document titled “CAST Assistance” and dated September 27, 2023, shows that an FBI special agent on Smith’s team “conducted preliminary toll analysis” on the toll records associated with the lawmakers. The case was marked “ARCTIC FROST—Election Law Matters—SENSITIVE INVESTIGATIVE MATTER—CAST,” referring to the FBI’s Cellular Analysis Survey Team.
The document was discovered by Patel in a Prohibited Access file, a system the FBI uses to limit access to certain records by making them invisible to most FBI agents. The discovery came in response to oversight requests from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa.
“We recently uncovered proof that phone records of U.S. lawmakers were seized for political purposes,” Patel said in a statement. “That abuse of power ends now. Under my leadership, the FBI will deliver truth and accountability, and never again be weaponized against the American people.”
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino briefed the affected lawmakers Monday afternoon on Capitol Hill.
“It is a disgrace that I have to stand on Capitol Hill and reveal this — that the FBI was once weaponized to track the private communications of U.S. lawmakers for political purposes,” Bongino said. “That era is over. Under our leadership, the FBI will never again be used as a political weapon against the American people.”
The Arctic Frost investigation was opened inside the bureau on April 13, 2022, by former anti-Trump agent Timothy Thibault. Smith was appointed as special counsel to take over the probe in November 2022. The investigation formed the basis of Smith’s case against President Donald Trump.
Grassley called the surveillance worse than the Watergate scandal that eventually forced then-President Richard Nixon to resign from office.
“Based on the evidence to-date, Arctic Frost and related weaponization by federal law enforcement under Biden was arguably worse than Watergate,” Grassley said. “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 Bondi and Director Patel need to hold accountable those involved in this serious wrongdoing. I started the Arctic Frost investigation in July 2022 after hearing from whistleblowers. It’s taken years to get records and advance my investigation, but what the public is seeing now demonstrates the importance of congressional oversight and whistleblowers. My whistleblowers deserve great thanks for what they’ve helped expose. None of this would have been known without them.”
The Republican senators held a press conference with Grassley following their briefing. Hawley called Smith’s actions “abuse of power beyond Watergate, beyond J. Edgar Hoover, one that directly strikes at the Constitution, the separation of powers, and the First Amendment.”
Lummis called the surveillance “attack on the legislative branch under the Biden administration” that demands “immediate investigation and prosecution.”
Hagerty and Johnson pointed out that Republicans had been spied on by a Democrat-led administration, referencing the alleged surveillance of Trump and his allies during the 2016 presidential election.
“This isn’t the first time that it’s happened,” Hagerty said.
“This doesn’t surprise me,” Johnson said.
Blackburn called the alleged spying “an abomination” and added, “I will not let it stand.”
The Biden FBI spied on Republicans who support @realDonaldTrump.
This was the weaponization of one of our nation’s top intelligence agencies, and those responsible must be held to account. pic.twitter.com/KF4euJQXbg
— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) October 6, 2025
Tuberville appeared on Steve Bannon’s War Room immediately after being briefed.
“It’s going to be a big deal … I would’ve always thought it would’ve been North Korea, or China, or Russia, not our own government. And Joe Biden was tapping the phones through the FBI of senators in this country. That’s a damn shame,” he said.
FBI officials said Arctic Frost is a “prohibited case” and that the review required officials to go “above and beyond in order to deliver on this promise of transparency.” The discovery is part of a broader ongoing review of alleged misconduct at the agency during the Biden administration.
“The American people deserve the truth, and under my leadership, they will have it,” Patel said. “We promised accountability for those who weaponized law enforcement, and we will deliver it. Under our watch, the FBI will never again be turned against the American people.”
Previous whistleblower disclosures revealed the FBI also acquired the government cell phones of Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence during the Arctic Frost investigation. Officials in the Biden White House personally assisted the FBI in securing Trump and Pence’s official government phones. Records Grassley released last month showed the FBI placed 92 Republican-linked individuals and groups under the investigation’s scope, including Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA.
Smith charged Trump in the U.S. District Court for Washington, D.C., in his 2020 election case, but after Trump was elected president, the case was dismissed. Smith’s case cost taxpayers more than $50 million.
The U.S. Office of Special Counsel opened an investigation into Smith in August for possibly unlawfully targeting Trump.