His comments come as former FBI Director Christopher Wray’s Arctic Frost investigation faces increased scrutiny from Congress over concerns that it unlawfully targeted leading Republican groups and lawmakers, potentially violating the Constitution’s speech or debate clause.
Arctic Frost was triggered in 2022 by special counsel Jack Smith’s prosecution of former President Donald Trump, related to alleged election interference in the 2020 Jan. 6 case. On Sunday, Senator Ted Cruz stated that during the investigation, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg signed off on subpoenas from Smith’s office that “had no basis.” These subpoenas ordered phone companies to allow the government to monitor the phone lines of nine Republican senators, including Cruz himself.
While Verizon complied with the subpoenas, AT&T pushed back against the orders. Cruz criticized the actions, saying, “When you have the Biden Department of Justice subpoenaing 20% of the Republicans in the Senate, it is an egregious abuse of process. It is a fishing expedition, and we need to have a full and thorough investigation and accountability for every executive branch official who signed off on weaponizing the government.”
Cruz went further, expressing his belief that the House should vote to impeach Judge Boasberg. He added there’s “a very real possibility” that Congress will pursue legislative action to prevent similar surveillance in the future, stressing, “We don’t want either party being able to do this and just surveil the opposing party.”
“Judge Boasberg was the one who made findings that he had no basis for,” Cruz said. “When he did that, he took off his judicial robe. He just became a partisan crusader. He joined with Jack Smith in the mission to try to stop Donald Trump from being reelected.”
The Texas senator claimed that the Arctic Frost investigation was partisan, in part due to its timing. Cruz noted that three days after Trump announced his 2024 reelection campaign, the Biden Justice Department, led by Attorney General Merrick Garland, appointed Jack Smith to investigate Trump for allegedly seeking to overturn the 2020 election through the events on January 6.
“Jack Smith was appointed with one mission: to stop Donald Trump. Do not let the American people vote for Trump as president. And he took his orders and launched a dragnet, the scope of which has never been seen,” Cruz said. “He issued at least 197 subpoenas directed at over 430 individuals and organizations, all Republicans.”
Cruz revealed that Smith sent subpoenas to AT&T seeking his cellphone records, voicemails, text messages, and geolocation data. He acknowledged AT&T for “doing the right thing” by refusing to hand over the private records, citing protections under the speech or debate clause.
However, Cruz added that AT&T also received an order signed by Judge Boasberg instructing them not to notify Cruz about the subpoena, based on a judicial finding that Cruz might destroy or tamper with evidence and witnesses—a claim Cruz called “absolutely absurd.”
In contrast, Verizon complied and handed over the records of eight Republican senators. “The speech and debate clause did not dissuade them from doing so, and we’ve now found out that those other eight senators also received judicial orders saying you could not tell the senators,” Cruz said.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Chairman Ron Johnson (R-WI) are leading a congressional inquiry into the Arctic Frost investigation. Grassley stated on Wednesday that Smith had issued 197 subpoenas to 34 individuals and 163 businesses—including financial institutions—as part of Arctic Frost.
The subpoenas requested records and communications related to over 430 individuals and organizations, “all of them appear to be aimed at Republicans,” Grassley said. He noted that Turning Point USA and the Republican Attorneys General Association were among the organizations under government surveillance.
Grassley concluded that Arctic Frost had become “the vehicle by which FBI agents and DOJ prosecutors could improperly investigate the entire Republican political apparatus.”
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/senate/3872114/cruz-biden-fbi-arctic-fox-watergate/