Whistleblowers Way Ahead Of Trump’s DOJ On Telling Us About Scandal ‘Bigger Than Watergate’

Frustration is growing on Capitol Hill that whistleblowers are releasing more information than the administration that made transparency a central promise.

Bombshells about the Biden FBI’s Arctic Frost probe, which became special counsel Jack Smith’s 2020 election case against President Donald Trump, have so far not come from releases by federal law enforcement agencies, but whistleblower disclosures to Congress.

While many agents and prosecutors who worked on Smith’s investigation have been terminated, Republican Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson told the Daily Caller News Foundation he believes “there are probably other partisans that are burrowed in the agencies, and they’re certainly not cooperating, if not outright sabotaging.”

Johnson explained Congress faces a two fold problem obtaining documents in an interview with the DCNF.

First, documents produced by the FBI need to be reviewed by the Department of Justice (DOJ), which Johnson suspects is having a hard time “staffing up” with enough personnel to do reviews, in part due to “lawfare” against attorneys who defend Trump. Second, some documents Congress needs are grand jury material, which the DOJ must move to unseal in court.

“The Department of Justice remains committed to being the most transparent Department in history,” a DOJ spokesperson told the DCNF. “We are working diligently to provide Congress with as much information as possible, consistent with our obligation to protect the integrity of ongoing and potential investigations.”

“The recent government shutdown temporarily delayed document production and other Congressional correspondence, however, with operations now resuming we look forward to continuing our work to ensure transparency and accountability for the American people,” the spokesperson said.

The FBI did not respond to a request for comment.

‘Don’t Want This Information Out’

Difficulties obtaining documents from the DOJ and FBI presents an obstacle to lawmakers seeking to further the investigation into what they say is a scandal “bigger than Watergate.”

In one recent case, the DOJ released information that had already been made public through Congress, but with more redactions.

Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Nov. 5 that the DOJ found Smith “seized President Trump’s government-issued phone” while investigating his case. But Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley had already revealed that information in whistleblower records he released in March.

Smith initially indicated he had obtained Trump’s cellphone data in a December 2023 court filing.

“I submitted these new documents to our partners on Capitol Hill. I commend our team at the FBI for working diligently to expose this,” Bondi wrote Wednesday.

DOJ v. Whistleblower Disclosures (Credit: Screenshot/Daily Caller News Foundation)

Among the 17 pages that the DOJ turned over to Congress was a more redacted version of an email already obtained through whistleblowers. Additional documents supplied in the release, which redacted most names, provided further confirmation but did not appear to reveal new information.

The FBI will “continue to produce additional responsive documents identified through our ongoing search processes on a rolling basis,” the agency told senators in a Nov. 4 letter accompanying the document production.

Republican senators want to have “Watergate-style” hearings on Arctic Frost, which would likely include public testimony from Smith, once all the required records have been obtained.

“We have to get more documents from the bowels of the Department of Justice,” Grassley said Nov. 4 on Newsmax. “And in those bowels of the Department of Justice are a lot of people that don’t want this information out because they’re probably very, very close to the liberal organizations in this town.”

Grassley released 197 subpoenas issued by Smith’s team that targeted more than 400 Republican entities and individuals in October — all obtained through whistleblowers. Johnson said during a press conference on the subpoenas that he does not believe FBI Director Kash Patel and Bondi have “control” of the agencies.

Grassley and Johnson requested that the DOJ seek judicial authorization for records “subject to federal grand jury secrecy requirements” on Oct. 10. Several senators have since asked Bondi to unseal Smith’s application for the nondisclosure order that prevented Republican lawmakers from knowing their phone records had been subpoenaed.

Judge James Boasberg approved the nondisclosure order in 2o23, a revelation that has sparked renewed efforts to impeach him.

“It is our understanding that this application is currently under seal in the Arctic Frost grand jury materials,” Republican Senators Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Rick Scott of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas wrote to Bondi on Thursday. “We urge you to immediately move to unseal and provide this application that accompanied the gag order.”

Johnson told the DCNF the “first step is to get the documents to expose this to the public.”

“My concern about criminal investigations and special counsels is the minute they announce one, those documents never see the light of day, other than in a criminal prosecution,” he said.

What Has The FBI Released? 

Patel pledged during his January confirmation hearing to be a “strong advocate for congressional oversight,” acknowledging that members had “hundreds of unanswered requests to the FBI.” Some key records have been released, but not all.

In July, the DOJ transmitted the appendix to a 2018 Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Inspector General (OIG) report examining the FBI’s Clinton investigation, which revealed the FBI failed to review thumb drives containing potentially significant evidence. Grassley had been seeking the information since 2018.

The DOJ also produced the declassified Appendix to the Durham Report to the Senate Judiciary Committee in July. The FBI released emails to Grassley in July showing the FBI “suppressed intelligence of alleged Chinese interference in the 2020 election to insulate then-FBI Director Christopher Wray from criticism.”

The FBI released 234 pages worth of heavily-redacted Arctic Frost documents that were published by the House Judiciary Committee on Oct. 28, which included lists of individuals potentially under investigation. The next day, Grassley released the actual subpoenas for “over 400 Republican targets” issued by Smith’s team, obtained through whistleblowers.

Other letters requesting information have so far gone unanswered, and a subpoena for records related to the Butler, Pennsylvania, Trump assassination attempt is still pending.

“We shouldn’t need a subpoena for this administration,” Johnson told the DCNF.

Another concern among Senate Republicans is potential destruction of documents. In the spring, FBI investigators found records kept in burn bags in an unused room at FBI headquarters, along with copies of former FBI Director James Comey’s handwritten notes locked inside a safe in that room, a recent court filing in the case against Comey revealed.

Records in the burn bags included documents “related to the FBI’s Mar-a-Lago search, the January 06 capitol breach, the Crossfire Hurricane investigation, as well as a copy of the Classified Appendix to the John Durham Special Counsel investigation,” according to an FBI memo.

“My guess is there have been massive destruction of documents,” Johnson told the DCNF. “That’s why I don’t get too particularly exercised over the release of the JFK files or the Epstein files. My guess is, the good stuff was destroyed. I’ve been doing this long enough, I take just about everything with a grain of salt and where possible, my guess is people who’ve done wrong have tried to hide their trail and destroy documents.”

With few disclosures, it’s difficult to determine exactly how many agents who worked on “weaponized” probes are still employed, though some whose names appear on the Arctic Frost investigation emails released by Johnson and Grassley remain.

Still, the DOJ and FBI have fired dozens of employees who worked on Arctic Frost and Trump prosecutions. One day after Grassley released a document showing Smith obtained phone records for Republican senators, Patel announced the FBI dismantled a public corruption squad that worked extensively on Arctic Frost.

“They tracked the communications of GOP Senators,” Patel wrote on X. “They weaponized law enforcement against the American people. That era is over.”

“We fired those who acted unethically, dismantled the corrupt CR-15 squad, and launched an investigation,” he wrote.