The FBI memo that initiated the Biden-era Arctic Frost investigation into President Donald Trump and hundreds of his allies over their activities related to January 6 lacked substantial evidence and clear legal justification, according to several former prosecutors and FBI agents who reviewed the newly released document and identified multiple deficiencies.
The investigation, code-named Arctic Frost, was initially led by an FBI supervisor who had expressed anti-Trump sentiments and was later taken over by Special Counsel Jack Smith.
The probe treated the effort by Trump’s allies to submit alternate electors to Congress during the 2020 election certification as a potential criminal conspiracy — despite similar actions in two prior instances of U.S. history not resulting in prosecution, Just the News reported.
According to the newly released materials, the FBI memo that launched the investigation in spring 2022 — around the same time Trump announced his bid for the presidency — relied heavily on interview clips from CNN as primary evidence “suggesting” Trump’s involvement in the alleged conspiracy, the outlet added.House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan said Wednesday that he believes the FBI memo authorizing the Arctic Frost investigation was legally flawed and reflected the same politicization and investigative overreach seen in the 2016 Russia collusion probe, code-named “Crossfire Hurricane.”
Jordan obtained the document from current FBI Director Kash Patel and told Just the News that both investigations targeted Trump based on weak evidence and partisan motives before ultimately being discredited.
“Sure looks that way. … and it looks like this was just the same old weaponization, same old political focus, focus on politics, going after your political enemies,” Jordan said during a wide-ranging interview on the Just the News, No Noise TV show.
“Same mindset that said we’re going to put the dossier in the intelligence community assessment, even though we know the dossier is garbage, we know there’s no underlying intelligence support,” he continued.
“That same mindset that was there in 2016 is the mindset we see now in 2022 with Arctic Frost, and then as it transformed into Jack Smith, special counsel, later in 2022—same mindset. So yeah, that’s what it sure looks like,” he added.
Smith has denied any wrongdoing and said he intends to present his side of the story. Jordan has invited Smith to testify before the committee, warning that he will issue a subpoena if Smith declines to appear voluntarily.
Documents released in recent weeks by Patel indicate that the Arctic Frost investigation was approved at the highest levels of the Biden administration, including by Attorney General Merrick Garland, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, and FBI Director Christopher Wray, with assistance from a lawyer in the White House.
The inquiry centered on efforts by Republican officials in several states to submit alternate slates of electors ahead of Congress’s certification of the 2020 presidential election on January 6, 2021.
The probe was later transferred from the FBI to Smith’s office, which issued subpoenas to hundreds of Trump allies.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Wednesday released 197 subpoenas that Smith and his Justice Department team issued “as part of the indiscriminate election case against President Trump,” identifying more than 400 Republican groups and individuals whose information was sought.
Separately, the House Judiciary Committee disclosed that more than 160 Republicans — including many closely tied to Trump — were flagged for possible investigation under the Arctic Frost operation.
The opening electronic communication (EC) that launched what became a broad investigation into Trump associates was written and approved in April 2022 under the title “Requests Opening of New Investigation – Arctic Frost.”
The probe, designated as a “Sensitive Investigative Matter” (SIM), was authorized by then–Assistant Special Agent in Charge Timothy Thibault — who later left the FBI after his anti-Trump social media posts came to light — along with other senior bureau officials, including Steve D’Antuono, then the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and Paul Abbate, who was serving as the FBI’s Deputy Director at the time.
On this week’s broadcast of Fox News Channel’s “Fox News Sunday,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said President Donald Trump was “eager” and “determined” to reopen the federal government as quickly as possible.
Anchor Shannon Bream began: “So the president says it’s about getting rid of the filibuster, not something you have to deal with on the House side. But he’s putting pressure on your Senate colleagues, saying, get rid of the 60 vote threshold. You can move most things by a majority vote in the House. Here’s part of one of his recent posts. He says, ‘Remember Republicans, regardless of the Schumer shutdown, the Democrats will terminate the filibuster the first chance they get. They’ll pack the Supreme Court, pick up two states, and add at least eight electoral votes. Don’t be weak and stupid, Republicans you will rule rue the day that you didn’t terminate the filibuster. Be tough, be smart and win.’”
She then asked Johnson: “There are some GOP senators indicating at least the tiniest open door to possibly making changes. What’s your advice to the other side of the Hill?”
“Well, I think there’s a lot of Democrats. I mean, a lot of senators, Republican and Democrat, who have resisted it in the past. We, on our side traditionally have resisted that because the worst impulses of the far left Democrat Party, they would pack the court,” Johnson began.
“They would do all the things the president. Let’s discuss there. I think what you’re seeing there is a reflection of his anger, his real frustration that the government is closed. He he is a big-hearted president,” the Speaker and Louisiana Republican continued.
“He wants everybody to get their services, and the health services for veterans and SNAP benefits and all the rest. And he’s tried everything he can, and he is now exhausting his ability. The courts are now saying you can’t go any further. So he’s just desperate for the government to open. He’s tried everything,” Johnson said.
“He’s tried to negotiate with them. He’s he’s pleaded with them and they’re still dug their heels in. So this is a reflection of all of our desperation. We’re angry about it. I think we should be.”
Meanwhile, Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) said Sunday that he’s hopeful the government shutdown could end this week now that President Trump has returned from his trip to Asia.
In an interview on CBS News’s “Face the Nation,” Warner avoided specifying where Democrats might be willing to compromise in the monthlong funding standoff but urged the president to return to the negotiating table.
Asked at what point the “pain and pressure” from air traffic controllers and other government workers will finally “end the shutdown,” Warner said, “I hope it ends it this week.”
“We knew this wasn’t going to end unless Donald Trump was back in the country. He’s now back in the country. He’s got to go ahead and put America first and sit down with us, deal with the health care shortage,” Warner added, as Democrats begin to feel the heat from the media and others normally friendly to his party.
He noted further that any negotiation will “require Trump in the room.”
“It’s why the bipartisan conversation so far, I don’t think we’ll ever get to ‘yes’ because unfortunately, my Republican colleagues can’t move on anything without a Trump sign-off,” Warner said.
“Trump has spent enough time going out there now trying to audition for a Nobel Prize, running around the world. Come back and put America first. Sit down and let’s get this resolved. It can be done in an hour,” Warner said without addressing the fact that Senate Democrats have voted no to fund and reopen the government 14 times.