DOJ Oversight and Arctic Frost

At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday, Chair Chuck Grassley and Sen. Marsha Blackburn alleged that the Biden Justice Department and former Special Counsel Jack Smith used a series of secret subpoenas and court‑approved gag orders to obtain phone records for 20 current or former Republican members of Congress in the FBI’s Operation Arctic Frost investigation. Grassley said Verizon, AT&T and T‑Mobile received 10 subpoenas for lawmakers’ records — including those of Blackburn, Sens. Ted Cruz and Mike Lee — and were barred from notifying the senators despite a federal statute and a Senate contract that normally require such notice unless the member is a target. Blackburn called the disclosures an "invasion of privacy and violation of our constitutional rights" and argued the subpoenas sidestepped the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause, which is meant to shield core legislative activity from executive‑branch intrusion. Grassley also faulted DOJ’s Public Integrity Section for greenlighting Smith’s requests after internal emails reportedly warned the subpoenas could expose the department to constitutional challenges, saying Smith "steamrolled ahead" while hiding his activity from Congress. The hearing is the first public chance for affected Republicans to question the carriers directly over how they handled Arctic Frost subpoenas, and it feeds a broader GOP narrative that the prior administration weaponized DOJ against Trump allies and their supporters in Congress.