Newly obtained documents reveal the Justice Department secretly collected House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan's personal phone records for more than two years without his knowledge, deepening concerns among Republicans that federal law enforcement has been weaponized against the Biden administration's political opponents.
According to the documents, the DOJ secured a grand jury subpoena on April 25, 2022, demanding "all call detail records" tied to Jordan dating back to Jan. 1, 2020, the House Judiciary Committee said in a Thursday press release.
The data sweep included incoming and outgoing calls, texts, direct-connect communications, voicemail details, IP addresses, location information, and even payment sources.
A nondisclosure order barred Verizon from informing Jordan, citing speculation that disclosure could jeopardize the investigation.
The records grab was part of "Arctic Frost," a DOJ probe launched in April 2022 that later became special counsel Jack Smith's election-related case against President Donald Trump.
Under Smith's leadership, the Biden DOJ quietly obtained the phone records of more than a dozen sitting Republican lawmakers, including at least eight GOP senators.
The request for Jordan's records reportedly came from DOJ prosecutor Timothy Duree, who worked closely with top Smith deputy Thomas Windom, recently referred for criminal prosecution by the Judiciary Committee over alleged misconduct.
Republicans say Smith's team refused to fully cooperate with congressional oversight, even as evidence mounts of political targeting.
The revelations surfaced as Jordan, R-Ohio, sent a separate letter, obtained by The Federalist, demanding answers from the DOJ Office of Inspector General (OIG) about its alleged involvement in the 2022 seizure of Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Scott Perry's cell phone.
Jordan noted that at least one OIG agent assisted the FBI in imaging Perry's phone, copying constitutionally protected communications.
Jordan warned that the OIG may have "sacrificed its independence" by aiding a partisan investigation.
Republican lawmakers now fear the OIG may also have been involved in collecting members' phone records.
Newly released Senate Judiciary documents show that the FBI obtained data detailing call durations, locations, and timestamps of multiple GOP senators, though not call content.
Additional records show the FBI also subpoenaed bank and communications data from conservative organizations, including the Republican National Committee and America First Policy Institute.
While Republicans decry targeted surveillance, the broader controversy has spilled into Congress.
The House voted 427-0 to repeal a provision, inserted by Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., that allows senators to sue the federal government for up to $500,000 per incident if their data was accessed without notification.
The measure, added after lawmakers learned their records had been reviewed in the Trump probe, triggered bipartisan backlash amid accusations of self-dealing.
Thune defended the language as a necessary response to the Biden DOJ's "violation of separation of powers," while GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., vowed to sue the Justice Department and Verizon.
The Hill reported Democrats objected to Thune's attempt to redirect any potential settlement funds to the U.S. Treasury, calling it insufficient.
With Jordan demanding full transparency, and a Nov. 26 deadline for DOJ OIG cooperation, the "Arctic Frost" controversy continues to raise profound questions about political surveillance, prosecutorial overreach, and the Biden administration's use of federal law enforcement powers against its critics.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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