U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 16, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Republicans on Monday decried "political weaponization" after accusations that former Special Counsel Jack Smith tracked private communications and calls from nearly a dozen Republican senators during an investigation into Jan. 6, 2021.
"The document, recently discovered by FBI Director Kash Patel and exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital, is titled "CAST Assistance" and dated Sept. 27, 2023. "CAST" refers to the FBI’s cellular analysis survey team," according to the Fox News report.
Fox alleges that Smith and his team, called "Arctic Frost," reportedly tracked GOP lawmakers, including Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Josh Hawley (R-MI), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Dan Sullivan (R-AL), and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), as well as Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA).
Smith made a rare public appearance last month, warning students at George Mason University that the Trump administration would weaponize the Department of Justice under the Trump administration.
Republicans reacted immediately to the news.
"It should shock every American," said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), calling it "major corruption."
"Jack Smith tracked my private communications and those of my colleagues during his witch hunt to investigate @POTUS.
This is exactly the type of political weaponization of the federal government under Presidents Obama and Biden that Republicans and President Trump have been calling out for years. We will get to the bottom of this, but every American should be shocked to see what happened here," Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) said.
"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. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) wrote on X.