Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said Tuesday the FBI’s investigation into President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election was broader than previously revealed.
The so-called Arctic Frost investigation into Trump also looked at Republican groups, including Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA organization and the Republican Attorneys General Association, according to records released by Grassley and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI).
As investigators looked into Trump’s effort to overturn the election, those groups and individuals had their communications and financial records subpoenaed to see if they were aiding Trump’s unfounded conspiracies about the 2020 election. These efforts included Trump allies filing false election fraud claims and disparaging lawsuits against election administrators, organizing fake electors to certify false election results, and attempting to convince then-Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to certify the results.
“In total, 92 Republican targets, including Republican groups and Republican-linked individuals, were placed under the investigative scope of Arctic Frost. On that political list was one of Charlie Kirk’s groups, Turning Point USA,” Grassley said Tuesday at a hearing on Capitol Hill.
“In other words, Arctic Frost wasn’t just a case to politically investigate Trump. It was the vehicle by which partisan FBI agents and DOJ prosecutors could achieve their partisan ends and improperly investigate the entire Republican political apparatus,” he continued.
Several pro-Trump political operatives, including Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, were previously known as subjects of the Arctic Frost investigation.
In 2023, Trump was indicted by a grand jury on charges related to his attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, including his involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. The charges were dropped when he was reelected to the presidency in 2024.
FBI INVESTIGATING MORE THAN 20 PEOPLE IN DISCORD GROUP TIED TO CHARLIE KIRK MURDER SUSPECT
In the wake of the 2020 election, Kirk and other groups now known to have been investigated amplified some of Trump’s baseless claims regarding election fraud.
Grassley’s reveal came days after Kirk was shot and killed at a college in Utah.
