by Frank Holmes, reporter
Nine Republicans victimized by politically motivated espionage from the Biden administration are demanding accountability—and experts think the Trump administration’s probe could lead all the way to the highest echelons of the Democratic Party.
The Biden administration spied on nearly one in five Republicans in the U.S. Senate—pilfering their phone records, poring over their text messages, and trying to find anything that would link them, or President Donald Trump, to the January 6th “insurrection.”
The Arctic Frost spy scandal began as an FBI investigation in April 2022, but Special Counsel Jack Smith and his team took over the investigation later that year.
That’s when the Orwellian spying went into overdrive.
Senator Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, released documents last Thursday showing the Biden administration spied on nine congressional Republicans, including eight of his fellow Republican senators: Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, along with Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania.
As The Horn News reported, agents from the FBI’s Washington Field Office monitored the numbers they called or texted and how long they talked—a process known as “toll analysis”—from January 4 through January 7, 2021.
The FBI spied, collected these records, found nothing, then tried to hide the evidence from the Trump administration by stashing them in a Prohibited Access file. Luckily, Grassley’s investigative team knew exactly where to look.
A total of 18 Republicans—including all nine spying victims—wrote a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, blasting “the unprecedented nature of the DOJ’s and FBI’s actions” which represent “potential abuses of power.”
“We expect both DOJ and FBI to take the necessary steps to provide complete transparency to Congress so that the Biden administration’s targeting of sitting elected officials is thoroughly investigated and all wrongdoers are held fully accountable,” wrote the victims and every Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
In a separate statement, Sen. Grassley said the “disturbing and outrageous political conduct by the Biden FBI” amounted to “an unconstitutional breach” of public trust, demanding full accountability.
“BIDEN FBI WEAPONIZATION = WORSE THAN WATERGATE,” posted Grassley on X.
“Full transparency from the FBI and DOJ will be required to expose who approved and knew about the snooping on 9 Republican members of Congress,” said Senator Ron Johnson.
Sen. Josh Hawley also denounced Smith’s actions an “abuse of power beyond Watergate.”
Like Watergate, evidence suggests that Arctic Frost was an inside job from the start.
This document shows the Biden FBI spied on 8 of my Republican Senate colleagues during its Arctic Frost investigation into "election conspiracy" Arctic Frost later became Jack Smith's elector case against Trump
BIDEN FBI WEAPONIZATION = WORSE THAN WATERGATE pic.twitter.com/V2JyiVlX48— Chuck Grassley (@ChuckGrassley) October 6, 2025
Full transparency from the FBI and DOJ will be required to expose who approved and knew about the snooping on 9 Republican members of Congress. See the letter that @ChuckGrassley, 16 of our colleagues, and I sent to @TheJusticeDept and @FBI requesting their cooperation.
Read… pic.twitter.com/YUfFS0DuOM— Senator Ron Johnson (@SenRonJohnson) October 10, 2025
In February, Grassley exposed how FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Timothy Thibault recruited subordinate agents to act as his frontmen “to conceal his role as an initiating agent” in an investigation that was “all about prosecuting then-Citizen Trump.”
Grassley described Thibault as “anti-Trump”—something like another version of Peter Strzok. And experts warn, these documents prove he isn’t the only one.
A “corrupt cabal went to great lengths to keep sunlight from illuminating the truth about the 2020 election of Biden,” said Rep. Abe Hamadeh, R-Az. “There is nothing radical leftists across all branches of government won’t do to maintain and expand their power.”
Patel, FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino, and other Trump appointees at the FBI need to “identify the layers of corruption left behind by the Biden administration and tear them out root and branch,” Hamadeh said.
One expert named the specific figure who might help agents get to the bottom of the scandal.
“Wanna bet Jonathan Su’s name comes up?” asked investigative reporter Julie Kelly.
The Boy Named Su is a partner at a white shoe law firm Latham and Watkins (which has offices across the country and around the world.) Su acted as Deputy White House Counsel to President Joe Biden, “where he led a team of lawyers at the White House Counsel’s Office that had principal responsibility for congressional oversight and controversy matters at the White House,” according to his biography. “Jonathan served as Special Counsel to President Barack Obama, where he advised on congressional oversight and controversy matters.”
Senators Grassley and Johnson turned up Su’s name in April, reporting that Su personally intervened to help the FBI get ahold of President Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence’s government-issued cell phones—even before agents added President Trump to the investigation.
The easiest way to find out if Kelly is right that Su’s fingerprints are all over this scandal would be for the authorities to arrest him and run his prints.
If he or another mid-level staffer gets caught red-handed spying on 16 percent of elected Republican senators, will they protect the superiors who ordered the illegal spying operation? Or will they roll over on their superiors, including former presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama?