Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) has once again blown the lid off the Biden administration’s weaponization of federal power — this time releasing a Justice Department memo that directly ties Attorney General Merrick Garland, Deputy AG Lisa Monaco, and FBI Director Christopher Wray to an FBI investigation targeting associates of Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign.
The memo, dated April 2022 and code-named **“Arctic Frost,”** authorized the FBI’s Washington Field Office to open what the DOJ itself labeled a *“Sensitive Investigative Matter.”* Its purpose? To determine whether Trump campaign allies had allegedly tried to “obstruct” Congress’s certification of the 2020 election — an accusation that fit neatly into the Democrats’ ongoing “January 6” narrative.
Grassley, who posted the four-page document on his X account, called the memo proof that the Biden administration’s top law enforcement officials were running a politically motivated witch hunt against the former president and his supporters. “This unleashed unchecked government power at the highest levels,” Grassley said, vowing that his oversight efforts would continue.
The memo shows that Garland, Monaco, and Wray each personally signed off on the probe, giving the FBI free rein to investigate individuals linked to the Trump campaign. Monaco even scrawled her initials on the document urging Garland to approve it — which he did that same day, April 5, 2022.
According to the DOJ’s own summary, the investigation centered around claims that so-called “fraudulent” certificates of electors were submitted from several battleground states — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin — after the 2020 election. The memo alleges these certificates were part of a supposed attempt to “obstruct” the Electoral College certification process.
The authorization came more than a year after the events of January 6 and just months before Special Counsel Jack Smith was brought in to oversee related investigations. Smith later subpoenaed phone records from eight Republican senators and one House member, including Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), for the period of January 4–7, 2021. The subpoenas sought metadata — numbers dialed, call times, and durations — but not content.
When Cruz appeared on *Fox News* with Sean Hannity this week, he revealed that AT&T refused to comply with Smith’s demand. “I just learned Jack Smith tried to subpoena my toll records,” Cruz said. “Thankfully, AT&T said no.” Smith, unsurprisingly, defended his actions, calling the subpoenas “entirely proper” and claiming they were “narrowly tailored.”
Republicans aren’t buying it. Many are comparing *Arctic Frost* to Watergate — but with a 21st-century twist. Instead of political operatives breaking into the DNC, it’s the Biden administration allegedly using federal law enforcement to spy on its political enemies.
“This is a direct assault on our constitutional system,” one GOP staffer told *The Federalist Post*. “The Biden DOJ and FBI are being weaponized against half the country.”
Despite these revelations, Smith’s legal team continues to claim the subpoenas were transparent, noting they were referenced in a footnote of Smith’s report. Yet, that justification rings hollow for conservatives who have watched the same Justice Department that ignored Hunter Biden’s laptop now obsessively chase down Trump allies.
Grassley’s memo release confirms what many Americans already suspected: the so-called “independent” Justice Department is anything but. Under Garland and Wray, it’s become an enforcement arm of the Democratic Party — and “Arctic Frost” may just be the chilling proof.
