Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) revealed on Monday that the FBI under the Biden administration obtained private cellphone information from nine GOP lawmakers, including Senators Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.). All of the targeted lawmakers are Republicans.
‘We were surveilled simply for being Republicans.’
In breaking the news with an internal FBI document, Sen. Grassley wrote on X, “BIDEN FBI WEAPONIZATION = WORSE THAN WATERGATE.”
Commenting on the news, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who was also named in the document, said, “We were surveilled simply for being Republicans. … It should shock every American.” He called the surveillance “an outrageous abuse of power” and “blatant political persecution.”
The surveillance took place as part of the FBI’s Arctic Frost investigation into the 2020 election. Operation Arctic Frost, launched in April 2022, was handed to special counsel Jack Smith in November of that year, who used it as the basis for the charges filed against President Trump in August 2023.
The FBI document detailing the surveillance of GOP lawmakers is dated September 27, 2023, though it is unclear when the actual surveillance took place.
Photo by Virginian Pilot/Getty Images
In a post on Truth Social, President Trump weighed in, writing, “Deranged Jack Smith got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. A real sleazebag!!!”
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), in commenting on the surveillance during a committee hearing on Tuesday, said, “I find this breathtaking.” He also pushed for a hearing on the matter: “I don’t want to wait 24 years to get an answer.”
In a GOP press briefing, Sen. Johnson pointed out that “this is not the first time I was targeted by the FBI. Under the Obama administration, the same thing happened to both Senator Grassley and I.”
In addressing the issue, FBI Director Kash Patel wrote on X, “The abuse of power ends now. Under my leadership, the FBI will deliver truth and accountability, and never again be weaponized against the American people.”
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