White House officials under then-President Biden helped the FBI build out its 2020 elections case against Donald Trump by turning over government-issued cellphones belonging to the 45th president and former Vice President Mike Pence, documents show.
The revelation was made in whistleblower disclosures released by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) on Friday, related to the FBI’s so-called 2022 “Arctic Frost” investigation into Trump, which the lawmakers say was improperly opened by “anti-Trump” former Assistant Special Agent in Charge Timothy Thibault.
“Sunshine is the best disinfectant,” Grassley and Johnson wrote in a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, informing them of their findings. “The American people deserve to know the complete extent of the corruption within the DOJ and FBI that led to the investigation into President Trump.
“We are making this information public for purposes of public accountability and to provide specific examples of past behavior at your institutions that must not be repeated,” they added.
Fox News Digital sources say the Biden White House tied Trump to the probe without sufficient predication. NurPhoto via Getty Images
The FBI didn’t need a warrant to physically get government phones from the Biden White House. AFP via Getty Images
“Quite simply, the public has a right to know what happened in Arctic Frost and, based on what we’ve exposed to date, the American public deserves better from its law enforcement agencies.”
It appears that the FBI did not require a warrant when it obtained the Trump and Pence cellphones, which were in the possession of Biden’s White House counsel.
In an email with the subject line “Arctic Frost Update 5 17 2022,” Thibault notifies FBI officials that the bureau has been given the cellphones and is working on search warrants to extract the data.
“On May 4, 2022, CR-15 agents took possession of two phones belonging to former President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence,” Thubault wrote. “The phones were entered into evidence and will not be processed until search warrants are obtained.”
After the devices were acquired, FBI agents began preparing a search warrant to go through the data of the phones, sources familiar with the investigation told Fox News Digital. POOL/AFP via Getty Images
“A brief interview with Deputy White House Counsel was conducted on the same date,” he added. “A follow-on letter requesting additional information regarding the phones was sent from the [US Attorney’s Office] to White House Counsel on May 9, 2022.”
A source familiar with the investigation told Fox News that “the Biden White House played right along with the FBI’s ‘gotcha’ scheme against Trump.”
The source added that the Biden’s Office of White House Counsel, which at the time was led by Dana Remus and Jonathan Su, “gave its blessing and accommodation for the FBI to physically obtain Trump and Pence’s phones.”
The senators expressed concern about the staffing and resources that were put into the Trump investigation, which formed the basis for former special counsel Jack Smith’s 2020 election interference case against Trump.
The phones were deemed evidence as part of the original FBI anti-Trump 2020 election investigation that was then taken over by special counsel Jack Smith. Bloomberg via Getty Images
An FBI email thread with the subject line, “Interviews on May 10, 2022” lists dozens of FBI employees from offices around the country, as well as employees from the National Archives and Records Administration Office of Inspector General and the United States Postal Inspection Service who “agreed to assist with interviews on May 10, 2022 in support of Arctic Frost.”
“The extent to which individuals on this list volunteered and self-selected to support this investigation is unclear,” the senators wrote.
A subsequent May 25, 2022, FBI email with the subject line “PCU Travel Request,” shows that the team probing Trump requested $16,600 for travel in June 2022 to “conduct more than 40 interviews, serve subpoenas and execute several cellular device search warrants.”
“These emails and documents provide a glimpse into just a portion of the massive taxpayer resources that the FBI spent on the Arctic Frost investigation,” Grassley and Johnson noted.
The senators asked Patel to produce “all records related to the Arctic Frost investigation,” as well as “a true and complete breakdown of the total dollar amount spent on the Arctic Frost investigation before it was officially transferred to Jack Smith in November 2022” by March 27.
The Post has reached out to the FBI for comment.