Is Arctic Frost Worse Than Watergate?

More documents have been released about Jack Smith’s investigation into President Donald Trump. According to an article by Fred Lucas at The Daily Signal, the newly released documents from the Department of Justice “provide details on former special counsel Jack Smith’s subpoenas for phone records of current administration officials and members of Congress.” 

The documents were made public shortly before a hearing by the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action, and Federal Rights, titled “Arctic Frost: A Modern Watergate.” They reveal how Smith’s probe demanded current FBI Director Kash Patel’s phone records and proposed subpoenas for records of 14 members of Congress.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, released the documents along with Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, chairman of the subcommittee that held the hearing on Tuesday.

Cruz compared the data gathering by Smith’s team to the scandal that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon in 1974.

“It is a modern Watergate, trading a break-in at one office for a digital sweep into approximately 100,000 private communications, more than a dozen senators, and thousands of individuals’ lives,” Cruz said.

“It is something far broader, an operation that aligned Democrats across all three branches of government: the Biden executive branch, through DOJ and the FBI, wielding investigative power against political opponents; Democrat-appointed judges in the judiciary, through warrants, secrecy orders, and deference, failing to serve as a meaningful check; and members of the legislative branch, who should be the first line of oversight, choosing instead to look the other way,” Cruz continued.

In 2025, the Senate Judiciary Committee released a set of documents that showed Smith’s team collected phone data from nine Republican senators and one Republican House member in the investigation, dubbed “Arctic Frost.”

The new batch of documents shows Smith’s team wanted even more members’ records.

Cruz noted the Smith team sought records of about one-fifth of Senate Republicans. He asked Will Chamberlain, senior counsel for the Article III Project, a watchdog group, how he would compare the Arctic Frost probe to the Watergate scandal.

Chamberlain brought up the surveillance of then-Trump campaign manager Susie Wiles and her lawyer. Wiles is not the White House chief of staff. According to reports, the FBI recorded a phone call between Wiles and her lawyer without her knowledge.

“If anything, it might even be greater. The scope of this, in terms of the sheer number of people and organizations affected, this brazen violation of attorney-client privilege, wiretapping, a phone call between Susie Wiles and her lawyer,” Chamberlain told the Senate panel. “These are egregious offenses, and if Watergate was just about a single break-in, this is effectively compounding that by 200.”

Smith issued two subpoenas to Verizon, requesting about two years of Patel’s phone records spanning January 2021 through February 2023, the documents show.

The subpoenas sought Patel’s residential and email addresses and phone connection records, including records of text messages sent and received. Such information would not include the content of conversations by phone or text.

Federal judges approved nondisclosure agreements for the requests, asserting there were “reasonable grounds” because disclosure of the subpoenas “will result” in actions such as flight from prosecution and evidence tampering….

An email on Jan. 10, 2023, discussed plans to subpoena toll records for various members of Congress and staff, including Republican Reps. Brian Babin of Texas; Andy Biggs of Arizona, Mo Brooks of Alabama, Matt Gaetz of Florida, Jody Hice of Georgia, Paul Gosar of Arizona, Louie Gohmert of Texas, Lee Zeldin of New York; as well as Republican Sens. Mike Lee of Utah, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and Cruz.

“The records include a wish list created by Smith’s team naming 14 members of Congress for whom they wanted to seek tolling data. Some of those members are senators on this very committee,” Grassley said.

“But, the list notes that Smith’s team already knew these members had communications, to include text messages for some members, with individuals associated with President Trump.”

Smith defended his actions while testifying before the House Judiciary Committee in January: “For the conspiracy that we were investigating, it was relevant to get full records to understand the scope of that conspiracy,” Smith told the House panel. He added, “In conducting a criminal investigation, securing non-content toll records, as you described, is a common practice in almost any complex concern.”

Should Obama and His Intelligence Leaders Be Investigated for Russiagate?

Russiagate is claimed to be much larger than Watergate, and it might be. Watergate was about President Richard Nixon covering up for a botched burglary at the Democrat Party headquarters. Russiagate is allegedly about President Barack Obama and his intelligence community surveilling presidential candidate Donald Trump and then trying to usurp the power of President Donald Trump.

Several weeks ago, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard declassified material “related to the reputed conspiracy to tie Donald Trump to Russia before and after the 2016 election” and made a criminal referral to the Department of Justice (DOJ). The DOJ confirmed two weeks ago that it had received the criminal referral. Now we learn that “Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered the DOJ to open a grand jury investigation into the matter.” In her article published at The Daily Signal, Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell made the following statements. 

In a letter first reported by Fox News Digital, Bondi ordered an unidentified federal prosecutor to initiate legal proceedings. The prosecutor is expected to present department evidence to a grand jury to secure a potential indictment.

Two weeks ago, the DOJ confirmed it received a criminal referral from Gabbard, which included a memo titled “Intelligence Community suppression of intelligence showing ‘Russian and criminal actors did not impact’ the 2016 presidential election via cyberattacks on infrastructure.”

At a July press briefing, Gabbard asserted that former President Barack Obama was involved in the “manufacturing” of an intelligence assessment relating to reputed Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Gabbard confirmed she is asking the Department of Justice and the FBI to “investigate the criminal implications” of new evidence around “Russiagate,” including referring Obama for investigation.

“The evidence that we have found, and that we have released, directly point to President Obama leading the manufacturing of this intelligence assessment,” she said. “There are multiple pieces of evidence and intelligence that confirm that fact.” …

Under President Donald Trump’s direction, Gabbard announced the declassified House Intelligence Committee report “that exposes how the Obama administration manufactured the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment that they knew was false, promoting the LIE that Vladimir Putin and the Russian government helped President Trump win the 2016 election.”

The newly released document, dated Sept. 18, 2020, details intelligence findings that Russia had little to no influence over the results of the 2016 presidential election.

Another Watergate?

                Will the IRS scandal be Barack Obama’s Watergate?  It could be! The Watergate scandal caused Richard Nixon to resign from the office of President of the United States in August 1974.  It was a major political scandal that resulted from a burglary at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters on June 17, 1972, and the cover-up from the Nixon administration.

                “When the conspiracy was discovered and investigated by the U.S. Congress, the Nixon administration’s resistance to its probes led to a constitutional crisis.  The term Watergate has come to encompass an array of clandestine and often illegal activities undertaken by members of the Nixon administration.  Those activities included such `dirty tricks’ as bugging the offices of political opponents and people of whom Nixon or his officials were suspicious.  Nixon and his close aides ordered harassment of activist groups and political figures, using the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).  The scandal led to the discovery of multiple abuses of power by the Nixon administration, articles of impeachment, and the resignation of Richard Nixon, the President of the United States.  The scandal also resulted in the indictment of 69 people, with trials or pleas resulting in 48 being found guilty and incarcerated, many of whom were Nixon’s top administration officials.

                “The affair began with the arrest of five men for breaking and entering into the DNC headquarters at the Watergate complex on June 17, 1972.  The FBI connected cash found on the burglars to a slush fund used by the Committee for the Re-Election of the President (CRP), the official organization of Nixon’s campaign.  In July 1973, as evidence mounted against the President’s staff, including testimony provided by former staff members in an investigation conducted by the Senate Watergate Committee, it was revealed that President Nixon had a tape-recording system in his offices and that he had recorded many conversations.  After a protracted series of bitter court battles, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the president had to hand over the tapes to government investigators; he eventually complied.  Recordings from these tapes implicated the president, revealing he had attempted to cover up the questionable goings-on that had taken place after the break-in.

Facing near-certain impeachment in the House of Representatives and equally certain conviction by the Senate, Nixon resigned the presidency on August 9, 1974.  On September 8, 1974, his successor, Gerald Ford, pardoned him.”  President Ford tried to heal the nation by pardoning Nixon.  His attempt backfired and cost President Ford his own re-election.

                Wayne Root claims he “was the victim of a widespread politically-motivated criminal attack by the IRS.”  He also claims that he has evidence tying the IRS scandal to the Obama White House.  Judicial Watch, a government watch dog, took Root’s case.

                Tom Fitton, the president of Judicial Watch, stated:  “The Obama IRS obstructed the release of Wayne Root’s tax documents.  The abuse of process Judicial Watch and Wayne suffered through to get these documents is scandalous.  Now we know why the Obama IRS was hesitant to give Wayne his own IRS files.  These documents show the Obama IRS scandal was more than just suppressing the Tea Party, it was also about auditing critics of President Obama.  Richard Nixon had to resign from office for less….” 

                Documents obtained by Judicial Watch clearly show that Root was targeted by IRS.  He believes the attack on him was meant to destroy, bankrupt, or silence him.  Root’s report of the experience is very interesting.  I encourage you to read it.

Watergate Scandal

The history lesson for this week is the Watergate scandal. The scandal known as Watergate began on June 16, 1972, when a security guard at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C., discovered a piece of tape on the lock of the door leading to the National Democratic Headquarters. This attempt was part of a larger campaign by supporters of Richard M. Nixon to tarnish the reputations of Democratic candidates and the Democratic Party.

As soon as the attempt to break into Democratic headquarters was known, President Nixon ordered the entire affair to be covered up. It gradually became clear that the Nixon presidency had been involved in abuses of power and serious manipulation for years. The attempt to hide the truth from Congress and the American people cost millions of dollars from Nixon supporters. Two questions from the investigation became famous: What did the President know? When did he know it? Apparently, Nixon knew about the break-in from the beginning and was involved in the cover-up as it progressed.

The scandal broke in the media as a minor story with little national significance. It probably would have been considered as "politics as usual" if two reporters, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, working for the Washington Post had not began to investigate the mystery. The reporters, aided by an informant identified as Deep Throat, opened wide the chasm that forced the first presidential resignation in history.

Soon after the investigation started, the revelation was made that a taping system was installed in the Oval Office, Camp David, the Cabinet rooms, and Nixon's hideaway office to record conversations. When Nixon argued that the tapes held only private conversations between the President and his advisors, the Supreme Court disagreed and ordered the President to release the tapes.

The tapes - containing an unexplained silence for eighteen minutes - were released. The House of Representatives approved the articles of impeachment against President Nixon in mid-1974. The articles of impeachment were: Article I: Obstruction of Justice; Article II: Abuse of power; and Article III: Defiance of committee subpoena.

Republican leaders from both the Senate and the House of Representatives informed President Nixon that he would probably be impeached and forced to resign. President Richard M. Nixon announced to the American people on August 8, 1974, that he no longer had a political base strong enough to keep him in office. He then resigned the presidency.

In a lawsuit of historian Stanley I. Kutler in 1996, two hundred new hours of tape were released. The new tapes revealed that Nixon was closely involved in abuses of power taking place both before and after Watergate. One taped conversation, taking place on June 23, 1972, proved that a discussion had taken place between Nixon and Bob Haldeman about thwarting the FBI investigation into the Watergate scandal by using the CIA.