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Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, revealed Tuesday that the FBI’s election-related investigation into President Donald Trump, launched in 2022, swept in dozens of Republican entities, including the late Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA.
Speaking during a hearing focused on oversight of the FBI, Grassley said the investigation, which the bureau called “Arctic Frost,” was partisan in nature and that its expansive scope was evidence of that.
“In other words, Arctic Frost wasn’t just a case to politically investigate Trump,” Grassley said. “It was a vehicle by which partisan FBI agents and Department of Justice prosecutors could achieve their partisan ends and improperly investigate the entire Republican political apparatus.”
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Since January, Grassley and Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., have been publishing records related to Arctic Frost, the investigation launched during FBI Director Chris Wray’s tenure that served as the basis for former special counsel Jack Smith to bring criminal charges against Trump related to the 2020 election.
Grassley unveiled a new set of documents during his opening statement on Tuesday that showed numerous Republican-affiliated organizations and people were targeted with subpoenas during Arctic Frost.
Some targets on the list were well known, such as Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, who spread unproven allegations that widespread election fraud occurred during the 2020 election. But the basis for targeting other groups, like Kirk’s group and the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA), was less clear.
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“For years, the deep state, unelected Biden bureaucrats — including the FBI — used lawfare to target Republican AGs and many other close friends because we were allies of Donald Trump,” RAGA Executive Director Adam Piper said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “The Biden Administration bastardized the rule of law, gave license to lawless liberals, and did everything possible to kneecap any and all opposition. Republican AGs will work to hold these bad actors accountable and help President Trump restore objectivity to our federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies.”
Kirk was assassinated last week while speaking during an event at Utah Valley University. He was a prolific conservative activist and his massive organization remains a part of his legacy. Turning Point USA recruited conservative college students and was heavily involved in promoting election turnout. In the aftermath of the 2020 election, Kirk amplified some of Trump’s claims about election fraud.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and Department of Justice leaders have said the suspect in Kirk’s shooting, Tyler Robinson, was driven by leftist ideology but that the investigation remains in an early stage. Authorities said antifascist messaging found on bullet casings, Discord messages and other messages have helped to develop an understanding of Robinson’s motive as the investigation continues.
Fox News Digital’s Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.
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