WASHINGTON — Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) released additional FBI files Wednesday revealing that hundreds more Republican groups and persons were targeted in a “fishing expedition” brought by special counsel Jack Smith.
In a press conference alongside other GOP senators, Grassley announced that he was making public the 197 subpoenas sought by Smith as part of the Arctic Frost probe, which became “the vehicle by which FBI agents and DOJ prosecutors could improperly investigate the entire Republican political apparatus.”
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“I’ve obtained through legally protected whistleblower disclosures,” Grassley said. “197 subpoenas were issued by Jack Smith and his team. These subpoenas were issued to 34 individuals and 163 businesses, including financial institutions.”
“The subpoena requested records and communications related to over 430 individual and organizations — all of them appear to be aimed at Republicans,” the Iowa Republican added, noting requests sent to the late conservative icon Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA and the Republican Attorneys General Association.
Smith’s investigation also uncovered a subpoena to an unidentified person “relating to communications with media companies such as CBS, Fox News, Fox Business, Newsmax, Sinclair, and others,” according to Grassley.
“Some subpoenas to individuals and businesses sought statistical data and analysis relating to donors and fundraising efforts,” he said. “Contrary to what Smith has said publicly, this was a fishing expedition.”
“If this had happened to Democrats, they’d be as rightly outraged as we are outraged,” Grassley fumed.
The probe resulted in a four-count indictment against Trump related to his attempts to overturn the 2020 election that culminated in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
Grassley previously published FBI records that showed that at least nine Republican lawmakers in Congress had their call logs requested by Smith’s team from phone carriers.
“Arctic Frost is Joe Biden’s Watergate,” added Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), one of the Republicans whose phone metadata was seized.
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