The Biden administration’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigated a wide array of conservative groups, including the late Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA, as part of a wide probe called “Arctic Frost.”
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) revealed the broader scope of Arctic Frost in a hearing with FBI Director Kash Patel at the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, saying that whistleblowers had come forward with new evidence.
Grassley said that the operation, originally set up to investigate the effort to overturn the 2020 election, had expanded to include a wide range of conservative groups, the Republican National Committee, and others.
He added that at least one FBI agent had been exuberant when learning of the prosecution of Trump adviser Peter Navarro for contempt of Congress.
Grassley said:
Arctic Frost was the FBI case opened and approved by anti-Trump FBI agent [Timothy] Thibault. Arctic Frost then became Jack Smith’s elector case against citizen Trump, and now President Trump. These new records show that Arctic Frost was much broader than just an electoral matter. The case was expanded to Republican organizations. Some examples of the group[s] that [Christopher] Wray’s FBI sought to place under political investigation included the Republican National Committee, Republican Attorney General’s Association [sic], and various Trump political groups. In total, 92 Republican targets, including Republican groups and Republican-linked individuals, were placed under investigative scope of Arctic Frost. On that political list was one of Charlie Kirk’s groups, Turning Point USA. In other words, Arctic Frost wasn’t just a case to politically investigate Trump. It was the vehicle by which partisan FBI agents and Department of Justice prosecutors could achieve their partisan ends and improperly investigate the entire Republican political apparatus. So, today, Senator Johnson [of Wisconsin] and I are making these records public for the entire country to see. And I hope a lot of people are interested in seeing what government can do when various agencies have a political agenda. My investigative work has also exposed the political way in which Peter Navarro was investigated and prosecuted. When FBI agent Thibault found out that Biden’s DOJ would prosecute Navarro, he said — “Wow, great.” That’s a quote.
The existence of “Arctic Frost” had been revealed in January, prompting the Senate to investigate.
Kirk was assassinated last Wednesday while speaking to students at Utah Valley University.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Zionist Conspiracy Wants You, now available on Amazon. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
