Attorney General Merrick Garland and ranking Biden administration Justice Department officials signed off on the Arctic Frost investigation, which later evolved into the criminal election interference indictment targeting President Donald Trump, according to a newly declassified memo released Thursday by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA).
The four-page memo, signed by then-FBI Director Chris Wray and dated April 4, 2022, sought Garland’s authorization for a “full sensitive investigative matter” based on “open source reporting and public statements” about alleged “fraudulent certificates of electors” following the 2020 election. Garland approved the request the next day, alongside then-Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco’s handwritten note: “Merrick — I recommend you approve.”
Doj Approval to Open Arctic Frost by reportoftheday
“Proof that Biden Attorney General Merrick Garland + Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco + FBI Dir Chris Wray all PERSONALLY APPROVED opening Arctic Frost,” Grassley wrote on X. “This investigation unleashed unchecked government power at the highest levels. My oversight will continue.”
Memo reveals limited evidentiary basis
The FBI memo outlined no confidential sources or independent corroboration of suspected wrongdoing, relying instead on media reporting, podcasts, and public statements by individuals described as being “closely associated with Donald J. Trump, Inc. (Trump Campaign)…” It concluded that those statements provided “an articulable factual basis” to justify a full federal investigation.
Despite the limited details, the memo authorized the FBI’s Washington Field Office to pursue an expansive probe that ultimately produced subpoenas for the phone data of at least nine Republican members of Congress, as well as data connected to Trump and his campaign aides.
Connection to Smith’s tolling data subpoenas
Earlier this week, former special counsel Jack Smith, who ultimately relied on Arctic Frost as the springboard for his electors indictment against Trump, admitted through his legal team that media reports also played a key role in deciding to subpoena the phone records of the nine GOP lawmakers in 2023, though Smith’s lawyers defended the subpoena for GOP lawmakers’ phone data as having been compliant with “established Department of Justice policy.”
Smith’s attorneys Lanny Breuer and Peter Koski cited stories from CNN, The Dispatch, and Business Insider, which alleged Trump and Rudy Giuliani called senators during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, as justification for the phone records subpoenas. They claimed the toll data covered only a four-day window from Jan. 4–7, 2021, and were intended to verify those reports.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) has asked Smith to sit for a transcribed interview and for all records related to his oversight of the Trump criminal cases and any possible “communications between you and any political appointee or senior career official” in the Biden administration related to his work. Smith has a deadline of Oct. 28 to respond, according to a letter sent last week.
It remains unclear whether the DOJ apprehended any direct communications information related to the lawmakers, though it is clear through previous disclosures that the scope of Arctic Frost was much broader. On Sept. 16, Grassley revealed that 92 Republican targets were subject to financial records subpoenas, including the Republican National Committee and Turning Point USA, among dozens of other groups and individuals.
Grassley has said the subpoenas against GOP lawmakers were “arguably worse than Watergate,” while Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and four other GOP senators sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi referring the matter to DOJ’s Office of Professional Responsibility for potential disciplinary review, saying that officials should consider Smith for disbarment.
Ongoing congressional push for transparency
Grassley and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) are asking the Trump administration’s DOJ and FBI to turn over all responsive records related to Arctic Frost, including internal communications, White House correspondence, and copies of the subpoenas issued to phone carriers. The lawmakers argue the FBI’s collection of congressional call data represents “an unprecedented intrusion” into a separate branch of government.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is still waiting for those records before committing to scheduling additional public hearing dates about the recent revelations from the DOJ.
