OPINION:
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley released another blockbuster document exposing President Biden’s partisan intrigues. Under the code name Arctic Frost, the FBI’s Washington field office seized the phone records of nine Republican lawmakers.
The internal memo, dated September 2023, shows that G-men targeted Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama and Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania.
FBI inquisitors were using the Jan. 6, 2021, tumult at the Capitol as cover to peer into the activities of politicians they didn’t like. In theory, the agents tried to identify everyone who spoke with the White House that day, but this request would not have furthered that objective.
The bureau already had a complete log of White House phone communications, listing conversations with legislators. By demanding “toll records” from phone companies, agents accessed details about each senator’s interactions in matters unrelated to Jan. 6.
For instance, if the reports included the cellphone towers used when placing the call, the senators’ locations would also be produced. Members of Congress frequently consult whistleblowers as part of their oversight responsibility. The civil servants who uncover government wrongdoing don’t want their identities revealed for fear of retribution from their employer.
That’s one of the things that makes the intrusion so troubling. Attorney General Pam Bondi says the Biden-era policies have been terminated.
“This is the kind of conduct that shattered the American people’s faith in our government,” she said in congressional testimony Tuesday. “We are ending this weaponization, our FBI is targeting violent criminals, child predators and other lawbreakers, not sitting senators who happen to be from the wrong political party.”
Ms. Bondi declined to respond when Mr. Grassley asked whether she would seek the secrecy waivers to disclose the rest of the Arctic Frost case file. Her reticence suggests malefactors other than former FBI Director James B. Comey, who was arraigned Wednesday for spinning tall tales to Congress, could be held responsible.
Mr. Comey wasn’t alone. Eleven years ago, CIA Director John O. Brennan was caught in a cloak-and-dagger mission involving Sen. Dianne Feinstein. The CIA’s inspector general concluded that the agency was obsessed with learning what the California Democrat’s congressional sleuths might discover about the intelligence community’s torture program.
Vindictive CIA officials begged the FBI and Justice Department to arrest Feinstein’s staffers on bogus charges. Or, as the inspector general put it: “The factual basis for the [criminal] referral was not supported, as the author of the referral had been provided inaccurate information on which the letter was based.”
Although the Justice Department didn’t oblige Mr. Brennan, the incident illustrates just how far the intelligence community is willing to go to advance its own interests, regardless of the victim’s political party. Legislative oversight is impossible if America’s spies can exploit their position of trust to bully their overseers in this way.
Ordinary Americans are also being abused. Mr. Biden’s minions went after pro-lifers, Catholics and parents who attended school board meetings. Instead of merely sending letters and making speeches, Congress needs to act.
It can clip the wings of the intelligence community by repealing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act provisions that permit warrantless snooping. Senators have only themselves to blame when the powers they foolishly authorized are turned against them.
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