Arctic Frost

The following is the prepared testimony of The Federalist’s Senior Legal Correspondent Margot Cleveland for a March 24 hearing titled “Arctic Frost: A Modern Watergate” before the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action, and Federal Rights.

Chairman Cruz, Ranking Member Whitehouse, and Members of the Subcommittee,

Thank you for the opportunity to testify concerning the grave constitutional violations inflicted as part of the Arctic Frost investigation.

After the 2020 election, an anti-Trump FBI agent named Tim Thibault attempted to use the justice department to destroy the President. Thibault’s efforts led to the launch of Arctic Frost. Soon after, Merrick Garland tapped Jack Smith, a “hyper-aggressive prosecutor,” known to “overstretch the meaning and intent of the law,” to serve as Special Counsel.

Smith proved himself true to form, indicting Trump for allegedly violating a statute enacted in the aftermath of Enron, based in part on a theory of criminal liability the Supreme Court would later hold invalid. The Supreme Court would later halt Smith’s efforts to prosecute Trump for actions that fell within the President’s official duties.

Special Counsel Jack Smith’s targeting of Kash Patel and numerous congressional Republicans as part of his lawfare against Donald Trump was worse than originally thought, new records show.

Released Tuesday by Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, the new documents demonstrate that Smith and his team’s efforts to acquire Patel’s phone records during his time as a private citizen were far more extensive than previously reported. The bid to acquire such information came as part of Smith’s Arctic Frost investigation, which ultimately became his elector lawfare against Trump.

Now-FBI Director Patel originally told Reuters last month that the Biden FBI had subpoenaed his phone records, as well as those of then-Trump confidant and now-White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. The subpoenas covered phone calls from 2022 and 2023, with Patel claiming that Smith’s collection of Wiles’ phone records “extended into [her] time as Trump’s co-campaign manager, though he did not say when exactly the record collection began or ended,” according to the outlet.

Fox News Digital revealed other Republicans former special counsel Jack Smith targeted during his investigation into President Donald Trump.

We already know that Smith tracked and targeted over 400 Republicans, including senators.

The new emails exposed a spiderweb containing members of the House and Senate who had contact with the main people in Smith’s investigation, such as Trump, Mark Meadows, and Rudy Giuliani:

New names within the emails obtained by Fox News Digital include Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas), Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) and former Rep. Lee Zeldin, who now leads the Environmental Protection Agency.

“I’d like to seek [the Public Integrity Section’s] concurrence to get phone tolls for several MOCs who had contact with pertinent parties in our investigation,” wrote DOJ lawyer Timothy Duree. “I’ll keep the timeframe tight—probably October 1, 2020, to January 31, 2021.”

Duree produced 16 names and said he wanted to discuss whether to “subpoena these all at once.” The list included Reps. Babin and Biggs and now former Reps. Mo Brooks, Matt Gaetz, Paul Gosar, Louie Gohmert, Zeldin and Jody Hice. The list also included Gohmert’s chief of staff Connie Hair, and seven senators whose names were previously revealed through public disclosures, such as Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.

The people who cheered on Jack Smith’s corrupt investigations into Donald Trump and his allies are suddenly silent after a bombshell report detailing the Biden FBI’s politically-charged spying ops.

Reuters this week reported the Democrat-led FBI subpoenaed records of phone calls made by current FBI Director Kash Patel and Susie Wiles, Trump’s campaign manager who now serves as his White House chief of Staff, in 2022 and 2023 when they were private citizens. Two anonymous FBI officials told the publication that the agency “recorded a phone call between Wiles and her attorney” in 2023.

Former special counsel Jack Smith testifies before the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday, January 22.

Smith was appointed by former Biden Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate and prosecute Donald Trump in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case and the January 6 Capitol riot.

In October 2025 it was revealed Smith had tracked phone records of Republican members of Congress in his “Arctic Frost” investigation.

Former Special Counsel Jack Smith is set to testify publicly before the House Judiciary Committee this Thursday. The former special counsel’s appearance before the House Judiciary Committee follows the closed-door interview Smith sat for last month as part of Chair Jim Jordan’s investigation into the Biden Administration’s weaponization of the Justice Department. A transcript of that deposition exposed several disturbing details concerning the targeting of Donald Trump, but also revealed how much remains hidden from the public.

While it is unlikely the House Judiciary Committee’s January 22, 2026 hearing will fully — or even mostly — address the totality of the weaponization of the justice department, or Smith’s complicity in that abuse of power, posing the following questions will provide a start.

Former Special Counsel Jack Smith defended his conduct before House lawmakers on Wednesday, insisting behind closed doors that politics had “no role” in the “investigations” and criminal charges he brought against President Donald Trump.

Smith appeared for a deposition with the House Judiciary Committee.

During the hearing, Republicans pressed Smith over his handling of the two federal cases targeting Trump.

One of the cases related to the 2020 election, and another was concerning the alleged retention of classified documents.

Portions of Smith’s opening remarks show the Biden administration prosecutor attempting to portray the cases as strictly legal decisions.