Updated October 30, 2026
Arctic Frost was a 2022–2023 federal investigation that began at the FBI and was later run by then-Special Counsel Jack Smith under Attorney General Merrick Garland, as part of the probe into efforts to overturn the 2020 election. FBI files and whistleblower documents released since October 2025, many through Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA), show it sought records tied to more than 430 Republican individuals and groups, including the phone records of at least nine GOP lawmakers. Republicans whose records were sought call it political targeting, while FBI documents reported by Axios say it was opened on "specific and articulable facts." This page collects Upward News reporting on Arctic Frost, oldest first.
2022–2023: An FBI official opened Arctic Frost, which later moved under then-Special Counsel Jack Smith and ran under Attorney General Merrick Garland as part of the investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
October 2025: Newly released FBI files and whistleblower documents showed Smith's team issued 197 subpoenas to 34 individuals and 163 businesses, seeking records tied to more than 430 Republican individuals and groups.
October 2025: The documents showed the probe sought phone metadata from at least nine Republican lawmakers, and that Judge James Boasberg signed an order barring AT&T from telling Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) his records were being sought. Cruz called for the House to begin impeachment proceedings against Boasberg.
October 2025: President Trump said former officials like Smith "should be prosecuted for their illegal and highly unethical behavior," The Washington Times reported.
October 2026: Upward reported that Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) had sued Smith, alleging his subpoenas violated her constitutional rights and that his appointment was unlawful.
October 2026: Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) disclosed that Smith's team subpoenaed text-message records from 87 White House phones, sweeping up communications involving nearly 50 journalists, and obtained 4,782 donor checks showing bank account numbers, signatures and home addresses.
October 2026: A committee memo released by Grassley said Smith's office and the Justice Department gathered spreadsheets covering at least 639,000 people, about 148,000 of them identified as donors, along with shipping details for buyers of red MAGA hats.
Lawmakers. The probe sought phone metadata from at least nine Republican lawmakers, including Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Rick Scott (R-FL), Upward reported. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) has sued over subpoenas she says violated her constitutional rights.
Republican groups and Trump allies. Subpoenas sought records related to more than 430 Republican individuals and groups, including Turning Point USA, the Republican Attorneys General Association and the Save America PAC, and named Stephen Miller, Jared Kushner and Lara Trump. Smith's team also issued two subpoenas to Verizon for about two years of phone records belonging to Kash Patel, now the FBI director.
Journalists and media. Investigators sought communications with outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax and Sinclair, and text-message records Smith's team subpoenaed from 87 White House phones captured communications involving nearly 50 journalists from outlets including Fox News, CNN, CBS, NBC, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post.
Donors and voters. Grassley says Smith's team obtained 4,782 donor checks, many for as little as $5 to $10, showing bank account and routing numbers, signatures and home addresses. A later committee memo said investigators gathered spreadsheets on at least 639,000 people, including names, birth dates, home addresses, voter registration status and credit card information, with donor contributions dating back to 2005.
Senate oversight. Grassley's Judiciary Committee oversight, built on whistleblower disclosures, has released new material in waves: the subpoena and phone-record findings in October 2025, the journalist and donor-check records in October 2026 and the 639,000-person memo days later. Upward also reported that prosecutors obtained nondisclosure orders that kept targeted lawmakers from learning their records had been subpoenaed, without telling judges the subpoenas sought the records of sitting senators, and that Smith's team dropped its effort to get Cruz's toll records after AT&T raised Speech or Debate concerns.
Lawsuit. Blackburn's lawsuit against Smith alleges violations of the First Amendment, the Fourth Amendment and the Constitution's Speech or Debate Clause. It also argues that Smith's appointment was unconstitutional because President Biden did not nominate him and the Senate did not confirm him.
Calls for accountability. Cruz called Arctic Frost "the Biden DOJ's Watergate" and urged the House to begin impeachment proceedings against Judge Boasberg, and Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) called it "a targeted attack to dismantle the Republican Party." Trump said Smith should be prosecuted.
Arctic Frost was a federal investigation, run from 2022 to 2023, that began with an FBI official and moved under then-Special Counsel Jack Smith. It was part of the investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and FBI documents reported by Axios say it was opened on "specific and articulable facts" of a conspiracy to obstruct the election's certification. Records released since 2025 show it reached hundreds of Republican individuals and groups, senators' phone records and data on at least 639,000 people.
Upward reported that the probe sought phone metadata from at least nine Republican lawmakers, including Sens. Ted Cruz, Chuck Grassley, Lindsey Graham and Rick Scott, and records related to groups such as Turning Point USA, the Republican Attorneys General Association and the Save America PAC. Stephen Miller, Jared Kushner and Lara Trump were named in subpoenas, and Smith's team sought about two years of phone records for Kash Patel, now the FBI director.
Then-Special Counsel Jack Smith led the investigation under Attorney General Merrick Garland during the Biden administration. Upward reported, citing a Senate Judiciary Committee release, that an anti-Trump FBI official started the probe before it moved to Smith's authority. Smith's office also relied on the House January 6 Committee's report, going through it "page by page" and folding it into its investigative plan.
CBS News reported that the FBI's phone records for the lawmakers "didn't include the content of calls," only who they called, when and for how long, as our October 2025 newsletter noted. Upward's analysis argued that such call records still show who GOP lawmakers talk to, which journalists they trust and who feeds them information.
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