by Jerry Dunleavy
Evidence continues to emerge showing the top levels of the Biden Administration involved in the investigations into once-and-future rival Donald Trump.
Members of the Biden White House and leaders at the Biden-era Justice Department and FBI were all involved in efforts linked to the launch of the Arctic Frost investigation which targeted then-former President Donald Trump and MAGA World over the events surrounding January 6, 2021.
Recently-declassified revelations related to the FBI’s “Arctic Frost” investigation chronicle the 2022 lawfare assault against then-former President Donald Trump and MAGA world, as criminal inquiries — which would soon lead to criminal charges — spun into high gear as Trump leaned toward running for president again.
New evidence shows that then-Attorney General Merrick Garland, then-Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, and then-FBI Director Christopher Wray signed off on the launch of the Arctic Frost inquiry into Trump related to the Capitol riot. Unearthed emails also show that the Biden White House Counsel’s Office coordinated with an anti-Trump FBI agent to hand over phones which had belonged to Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence.
Highest levels of Biden Admin tied to Trump J6 investigation
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, released a document this week from early April 2022 showing that Garland, Monaco, and Wray all signed off on the launch of the sweeping inquiry into Trump. The memo — initialized by Garland, Monaco, and Wray — was for the “Approval to Open a Certain Sensitive Investigative Matter [SIM] Investigation.”
“WFO [Washington Field Office] seeks to open this SIM full investigation based on evidence that presents specific and articulable facts that individuals, both known and unknown, engaged in a conspiracy to obstruct Congress’s certification of the Electoral College on January 6, 2020 [sic],” the launch document said.
The document approved by Garland, Monaco, and Wray contained an obvious error — apparently unnoticed by the trio and their staffs — given that the events in question were in early 2021, not early 2020.
Grassley, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, in April released “FBI emails provided by legally protected whistleblowers” which he said showed “officials in the Biden White House, including then-White House Deputy Counsel Jonathan Su, personally assisted the FBI in securing the government cell phones of President Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence.” The senator noted that “the cell phones were acquired before Trump was formally added as a subject of the investigation.”
The senator said the disclosures also included “further evidence anti-Trump FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Timothy Thibault played a central role in opening and advancing the Arctic Frost investigation, despite other agents’ concerns that the evidence only supported a limited preliminary investigation.”
Thibault, a former FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge at the FBI’s Washington Field Office, retired from the bureau in 2022 amidst whistleblower allegations and after his anti-Trump social media postings were revealed.
An unearthed email from April 2022 showed Thibault approving the opening of Arctic Frost.
The emails showed that, in late February 2022, Thibault said that “I am working to get DOJ and FBIHQ to gain approval to open a case on the Trump campaign et al for conspiring to defraud the US Govt [Government] via the elector scheme. This case will be worked by CR15.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney John Crabb reached out to Su — who worked as a special counsel to President Barack Obama and as deputy White House counsel in the White House Counsel’s Office under President Joe Biden — in late April 2022 as Thibault and the FBI sought to obtain phones which had belonged to Trump and Pence.
Crabb asked Su, “Do you have a moment to discuss logistics for telephones?” Su responded, “Yes.” Su also said that “I can be the POC [point of contact] for the time being.”
The emails continued in early May 2022, as Crabb told Su (in emails where Thibault was carbon copied), “Would you coordinate with Tim Thibault (who’s copied on this email) about picking up the telephones.”
Su responded, “Thanks John. Tim, it is good to meet you, and please let me know what works for you in terms of timing the next couple of days.”
Thibault replied, “Good to meet you as well. I am in the process of facilitating the receipt of the two phones today … if this window is still acceptable for you? If so, would you please provide a contact number and instructions for two Special Agents to follow to allow for entry to the WH grounds?”
Thibault also sent an email to FBI supervisory special agent Blaire Toleman, saying, “It is anticipated WF [Washington Field Office] CR-15 case agents will be directed to receive two phones, previously assigned to former POTUS Trump and VPOTUS Pence from the White House Counsel’s Office today.”
Toleman emailed Su (in a message where Thibault was again copied) that special agents Michelle Ball and Jamie Garmin “will pick up the phones” and to “please let me know if you need anything additional from us.”
Su replied, “Will do and many thanks.”
The FBI public corruption unit in question — CR-15 — which had handled Arctic Frost was disbanded by FBI Director Kash Patel earlier this month.
“They tracked the communications of GOP Senators. They weaponized law enforcement against the American people. That era is over,” Patel said on X. “We fired those who acted unethically, dismantled the corrupt CR-15 squad, and launched an investigation. Transparency and accountability aren’t slogans, they’re promises kept.”
Grassley sent a letter to Smith on Friday shortly after the former special counsel offered to testify before his Senate committee.
The senator’s new letter told Smith to reveal details on any and all meetings he or his staff held with Biden White House officials and with Garland, Monaco, Wray, and former FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate.
Grassley also asked Smith how many members of Congress he sought phone tolling information from and how many he obtained that information from, and also asked the former special counsel if he was “aware that anti-Trump FBI agents, such as Assistant Special Agent in Charge Thibault, played critical roles in opening and approving the elector case.”
Neither lawyers for Smith nor Thibault immediately responded to requests for comment sent over the weekend.
Weaponized FBI went after phone records of key GOP leaders
The recent revelation that the FBI snooped on the phone records of Republican members of Congress during its January 6 investigation is bringing greater scrutiny to Wray, during whose tenure the bureau effort occurred, and to Smith, who was leading the Biden Justice Department’s investigation into Trump.
These revelations are also putting the spotlight on Thibault, whom Republicans argue showed extreme anti-Trump bias, demonstrated a willingness to target Trump early in his first term, attempted to slow walk or block the FBI’s investigation into Hunter Biden, and in April 2022 helped spark Arctic Frost investigation — later carried on by Smith — which led to criminal charges against Trump related to the Capitol riot.
Trump and other Republicans repeatedly alleged that Smith and the FBI were themselves engaging in election influence by trying to bring charges, hold trials, and obtain convictions against Trump ahead of the 2024 election.
The FBI raided Trump’s Florida resort home of Mar-a-Lago in August 2022 with the authorization of Garland. The Biden attorney general picked Smith in November 2022 to lead the twin criminal investigations into Trump related to classified documents and the Capitol riot.
Smith and the FBI reportedly collected the private phone records of eight Republican senators and one GOP House member as part of his investigation into the Capitol riot of January 6, 2021.
An unearthed FBI record from 2023 indicated that investigators at the bureau had “conducted preliminary toll analysis on limited toll records” tied to phone calls related to GOP Sens. Johnson, Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn.; Josh Hawley, R-Mo.; Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska; Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala.; Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo.; Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.; and GOP Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa.
The FBI’s Arctic Frost investigation also targeted dozens of GOP officials and organizations, according to documents released by Grassley in September. An FBI document from the Arctic Frost inquiry dated January 2023 showed that the investigation’s “targets” included Donald J. Trump for President Inc., Turning Point USA, the Republican Attorneys General Association, the America First Policy Institute, the Save America PAC, the Conservative Partnership Institute, and many more.
Thibault helps spark the Arctic Frost investigation targeting Trump
Thibault indicated that he was willing to consider investigating Trump as early as March 2017, according to a document which Grassley released.
The FBI agent said in a March 2, 2017 email that he was “not sure where the rumor started” that his office “was leaning toward open [sic] a case on the Trump campaign” as he admitted that “we weren't close to opening a PI/FI [preliminary investigation / full investigation] on the Trump Campaign.”
But Thibault added: “What we are doing: Aggressively seeking out open-source information, HUMINT [human intelligence] info that could predicate a case.” He said that “we have, over the past month, been actively collaborating” with the FBI’s Washington Field Office in the effort and said that he would “continue open conversations with” FBI headquarters “on what, if anything we find.” Thibault said that “if nothing else, we want to be a resource for them if they have questions about the inner working of federal political campaigns (in-kind contributions, law prohibiting foreign contributions, straw donor campaigns, and Super Pacs/dark money).”
Grassley said that the email “appears to relate to matters different than Crossfire Hurricane” and that it showed that “less than two months into Trump’s first presidency, the partisan Comey FBI was hard at work trying to manufacture another case against Trump.”
“Thibault and the FBI eventually got their wish in April 2022 with the opening of Arctic Frost,” Grassley said. “This was a political fishing expedition to get Trump at all costs – just like Crossfire Hurricane – and it’s a disgrace to the taxpayers.”
Thibault eventually “authored the initial language for what ultimately became Jack Smith’s federal case against Trump regarding the 2020 presidential election,” according to Grassley and Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., in January. The senators said that "records show Thibault essentially opened and approved his own investigation” — which was dubbed “Arctic Frost.”
The senators released a February 2022 email where Thibault said that “here is draft opening language we discussed.” They also released an email from that month where the FBI agent said that “I had a discussion with the case team and we believe there to be predication to include former President of the United States Donald J. Trump as a predicated subject.”
An unearthed email from April 2022 showed Thibault approving the opening of Arctic Frost.
Even as Thibault displayed a willingness early on to target Trump, Grassley revealed in July 2022 that whistleblowers had told him that Thibault had “ordered closed” an “avenue of additional derogatory” information on Hunter Biden reporting in October 2020, even though “all of the reporting was either verified or verifiable via criminal search warrants.” The senator wrote that Thibault “allegedly ordered the matter closed without providing a valid reason as required by FBI guidelines” and that he “subsequently attempted to improperly mark the matter in FBI systems so that it could not be opened in the future.”
Thibault’s attorneys from the Morrison & Foerster law firm pushed back on these claims in 2022.
"There have been allegations that Mr. Thibault took certain actions in investigations for partisan political reasons," the then-retired FBI agent’s lawyers said. “Mr. Thibault welcomes any investigation of these false allegations, regardless of his retirement."
"Mr. Thibault did not supervise the investigation of Hunter Biden … In particular, Mr. Thibault was not involved in any decisions related to any laptop that may be at issue in that investigation, and he did not seek to close the investigation,” Thibault’s attorneys said.
Thibault’s purported Twitter account at the time retweeted an anti-Trump Lincoln Project tweet that said, “Donald Trump is a psychologically broken, embittered, and deeply unhappy man.” The Lincoln Project was sharing an article by The Atlantic which was titled “Donald Trump is a Broken Man.” Thibault’s social media postings also included criticisms of the first Trump Justice Department under then-Attorney General William Barr and of other Republicans.
Garland picks "hit man" Jack Smith to pursue J6 and classified docs cases
Garland’s appointment order for Smith in November 2022 said the special counsel was “authorized to conduct the ongoing investigation into whether any person or entity violated the law in connection with efforts to interfere with the lawful transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election or the certification of the Electoral College vote held on or about January 6, 2021.” Smith was “further authorized to conduct the ongoing investigation” related to the FBI raid of Mar-a-Lago.
“The Special Counsel is authorized to prosecute federal crimes arising from the investigation of these matters,” the Biden DOJ appointment memo said. “The Special Counsel is also authorized to refer to the appropriate United States Attorney discrete prosecutions that may arise from the Special Counsel’s investigation.”
Smith had previously served under Obama-era Attorney General Eric Holder, leading the DOJ’s Public Integrity Unit from 2010 to 2015. Smith led a team of 30 prosecutors in conducting public corruption cases throughout the United States, including a mixed track record of going after high-profile politicians.
Smith also inserted the DOJ into what would become the Lois Lerner IRS scandal targeting conservative nonprofit groups during the Obama years.
Trump declared that Smith was “nothing less than a hit man for Obama” shortly after he was picked by Garland, and derided Smith in June 2023, calling the special counsel “a Trump Hater — a deranged ‘psycho’ that shouldn’t be involved in any case having to do with ‘Justice,’ other than to look at Biden as a criminal, which he is!”
Jack Smith and the FBI carry on Arctic Frost investigation
Smith and the FBI reportedly collected the private phone records of eight Republican senators and one GOP House member as part of his investigation into the Capitol riot of January 6, 2021.
“Deranged Jack Smith got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. A real sleazebag!!!” Trump said on Truth Social in response to the news.
The once-secret FBI record, dated late September 2023, has the title of "CAST Assistance" — a likely reference to the bureau’s cellular analysis survey team. The case ID for the record is "ARCTIC FROST — Election Law Matters — SENSITIVE INVESTIGATIVE MATTER — CAST."
Grassley's office revealed that the FBI document "was found in a Prohibited Access file in response to Grassley’s oversight requests."
“Based on the evidence to-date, Arctic Frost and related weaponization by federal law enforcement under Biden was arguably worse than Watergate,” Grassley said in a statement earlier this month. “What I’ve uncovered today is disturbing and outrageous political conduct by the Biden FBI. The FBI’s actions were an unconstitutional breach, and Attorney General Bondi and Director Patel need to hold accountable those involved in this serious wrongdoing.”
Biden DOJ and Jack Smith sift through January 6 riot to find anything indictable on Trump
Garland as attorney general in January 2022, declared “there is no higher priority for us at the Department of Justice” than going after those involved with January 6, calling the DOJ’s inquiry “one of the largest, most complex, and most resource-intensive investigations in our history.”
Garland announced in early January of this year, before being replaced by Pam Bondi, that “We have now charged more than 1,500 individuals for crimes that occurred on January 6, as well as in the days and weeks leading up to the attack," on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6, 2021. Wray claimed in a February 2022 speech that the FBI was working just as hard to punish those involved in the 2020 George Floyd riots as it was to prosecute those tied to the Capitol riot.
The Biden attorney general appointed Smith to be special counsel in November 2022.
Smith indicted Trump in August 2023 related to the then-former president’s alleged actions surrounding the 2020 election, with superseding charges in August 2024. Smith contended that Trump “pursued unlawful means of discounting legitimate votes and subverting the election results.”
Judge Tanya Chutkan dismissed the January 6-related case against Trump in November 2024 after Trump’s win, pointing to the Office of Legal Counsel’s position that a sitting president could not be prosecuted by his own DOJ.
Smith released his report on his January 6-related effort against Trump in January of this year, a couple weeks before Trump’s second inauguration. The special counsel report concluded that “substantial evidence demonstrates that Mr. Trump then engaged in an unprecedented criminal effort to overturn the legitimate results of the election in order to retain power.”
Trump issued pardons and commutations in January of this year to the hundreds of defendants who had been charged by the DOJ for their involvement in the Capitol riot.
Patel said during his late January confirmation hearing before the Senate that "I do not agree with the commutation of any sentence of any individual who committed violence against law enforcement."
The current FBI chief also said that “I also believe America is not safer because President Biden's commutation of a man” — convicted murderer Leonard Peltier — “who murdered two FBI agents… So it goes both ways."
The Biden White House kept close tabs on the National Archives, raid on Mar-a-Lago
The Biden White House was also, at the very least, watchful of the classified documents investigation into Trump.
Trump returned an initial batch of fifteen boxes from Mar-a-Lago to the National Archives in January 2022. However, the National Archives said it had found some records with classified markings and believed Trump continued to possess other records, and in February 2022, it referred the issue to the Justice Department.
Debra Wall, then the acting archivist at the National Archives and Records Administration, sent a May 2022 letter to Trump’s lawyers informing them that an initial review “identified items marked as classified national security information.”
The archivist said this resulted in Biden and the White House being made aware of the situation as the FBI sought access to the records.
The National Archives told Trump’s lawyers in early May 2022 that it “will provide the FBI access to the records in question, as requested by the incumbent President [Biden].”
“NARA informed the Department of Justice about that discovery, which prompted the Department to ask the President to request that NARA provide the FBI with access to the boxes at issue so that the FBI and others in the Intelligence Community could examine them,” Wall wrote in the letter. “On April 11, 2022, the White House Counsel’s Office — affirming a request from the Department of Justice supported by an FBI letterhead memorandum — formally transmitted a request that NARA provide the FBI access to the 15 boxes for its review within seven days.”
The National Archives letter in May 2022 was shortly followed by a grand jury subpoena, then by a June 2022 visit to Mar-a-Lago by federal investigators, and finally by the August 2022 raid.
Although the eventual prosecution of Trump would fail, the raid on Mar-a-Lago on August 8, 2022, at Trump's residence in Palm Beach, Florida quickly became fodder for the media, and was one of the most talked about stories of the year. Visuals were provided by a helpful Department of Justice, who distributed photos that would be seared into the public perception of Trump as involved in criminal activity.
Garland said he “personally approved the decision to seek a search warrant” for the FBI’s unprecedented raid of Mar-a-Lago back in August 2022.
Smith and the Biden DOJ charged Trump in June 2023 over allegations related to the improper retention of classified documents, followed by a superseding indictment the next month. The charging documents alleged that “the unauthorized disclosure of these classified documents could put at risk the national security of the United States.”
Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed Smith’s classified documents case against Trump in July 2024, ruling that Smith had been unlawfully appointed as special counsel. Smith attempted to appeal the ruling but soon dropped it after Trump won the 2024 election against then-Vice President Kamala Harris.
Smith may soon testify before the GOP-led Senate Judiciary Committee, where Republicans believe he has a lot to answer for.
Jerry Dunleavy
Source: https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/biden-white-house-and-doj-fbi-leaders-involved-launch-arctic-frost
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