WASHINGTON, D.C.—On October 6, 2025, Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) released a declassified FBI document dated September 27, 2023, showing that FBI agents conducted a preliminary “analysis” of cellphone toll records for a total of nine Republican lawmakers, including himself, in connection with an inquiry into potential efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.
“I was just briefed by FBI Deputy Director Bongino that the FBI and the DOJ obtained call logs from eight U.S. Senators — including myself,” Senator Ron Johnson posted to X. “We were surveilled simply for being Republicans. This does not surprise me, but it should shock every American. What the Biden Administration has done is an outrageous abuse of power — it is blatant political persecution. Those responsible must be held fully accountable.”
The document, part of the FBI’s “Arctic Frost” investigation — a precursor to special counsel Jack Smith’s broader probe into former President Donald Trump’s allies — lists the following individuals: Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), and Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.).
Arctic Frost was the code name for a Biden Administration-led FBI investigation launched in April 2022 dthat focused on probing an alleged “multifaceted conspiracy” to overturn the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
The records requested on lawmakers, which include details on call recipients, timestamps, and durations but not conversation content, focused on communications around January 6, 2021, the day of the U.S. Capitol breach.
The “analysis” was authorized under court order and handled by the FBI’s CAST unit, which provides technical assistance in electronic surveillance matters.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who obtained the document through Senate Judiciary Committee oversight, shared it publicly the same day and criticized the action as a privacy violation, warning, “If heads don’t roll in this town, nothing changes.”
“This document shows the Biden FBI spied on 8 of my Republican Senate colleagues during its Arctic Frost investigation into ‘election conspiracy’ Arctic Frost later became Jack Smith’s elector case against Trump. BIDEN FBI WEAPONIZATION = WORSE THAN WATERGATE,” Sen. Grassley posted to X.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) echoed concerns, labeling it an “outrageous abuse of power and weaponization of the government.”
Jack Smith resigned from the DOJ in January 2025, and several FBI agents involved in related cases have since been terminated.
Author: Mario Lotmore
