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Grassley Releases Report
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Grassley Releases Report

The growing revelations surrounding the Biden administration’s Department of Justice—and specifically the sprawling surveillance effort codenamed Arctic Frost—paint a picture far more unsettling than anything its critics once accused the Trump administration of doing.

While Democrats and their media allies once hand-wrung over alleged DOJ politicization under Trump, claiming that figures like Pam Bondi, Kash Patel, and Trump himself had weaponized the levers of justice, the facts emerging now suggest that it was the Biden DOJ that executed the most expansive and politically targeted surveillance effort in recent memory.


According to whistleblower disclosures released by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Arctic Frost wasn’t a narrow, intelligence-based investigation. It was a mass subpoena operation that swept up data from across the conservative spectrum—from individuals to entire institutions. Grassley revealed that Special Counsel Jack Smith issued 197 subpoenas under the auspices of Arctic Frost, targeting 34 individuals and 163 businesses. Among them were some of the most prominent names in the conservative movement: Turning Point USA, the Republican Attorneys General Association, and nearly a dozen sitting Republican senators.

Perhaps most alarming is the breadth of the information sought. The DOJ demanded phone records, metadata, and communications—not merely in pursuit of a criminal case, but seemingly to construct a profile of political opposition. Sen. Ted Cruz, whose own data was subpoenaed, called Arctic Frost “Joe Biden’s Watergate.” The comparison is not casual. As Cruz noted, this was a political enemies list masquerading as a legal probe.


The list of those who greenlit the investigation is equally troubling: Attorney General Merrick Garland, Deputy AG Lisa Monaco, and FBI Director Christopher Wray. All were reportedly involved in authorizing this covert dragnet. And as if to complete the institutional alignment, U.S. District Court Chief Judge James Boasberg—the man who signed off on the secretive subpoenas—barred carriers like AT&T from notifying targets like Cruz for at least a year.

The implications stretch far beyond partisanship. If these allegations hold, this wasn’t merely political surveillance. It was a government effort—quiet, coordinated, and systemic—to monitor, catalog, and suppress an entire ideological movement under the color of law.


It’s important to grasp the chilling reality here: Turning Point USA, an organization founded by the late Charlie Kirk and focused on campus conservatism, was treated as a surveillance target under federal investigation. What kind of message does that send? That youth-driven political engagement—when it leans right—is worthy of DOJ scrutiny? That traditional institutions of civic participation like the Republican Attorneys General Association fall under suspicion by default?

What’s equally striking is the silence from many of the same voices who cried foul during the Trump years. The editorial pages that once accused Bill Barr of authoritarian overreach have been conspicuously muted in response to Arctic Frost. That double standard speaks volumes.


As the facts continue to emerge, it is becoming increasingly difficult to defend the claim that this was simply an overzealous investigation. With 197 subpoenas, a one-sided list of political targets, and secretive court orders suppressing transparency, Arctic Frost appears to have been engineered not for justice—but for control.

Written by Arthur Higgens - October 30, 2025