Overview
- The four-page April 2022 memo, released by Sen. Chuck Grassley, bears handwritten signatures from Merrick Garland, Lisa Monaco, and Christopher Wray authorizing a Sensitive Investigative Matter into alleged efforts to obstruct certification of the 2020 election.
- The FBI Washington Field Office cited open-source reporting and public statements as the factual basis to open the full investigation focused on fraudulent elector certificates and related conduct.
- Arctic Frost later fed material to Special Counsel Jack Smith’s election-interference work, and unclassified files show the probe’s scope included roughly 92 GOP-linked groups and individuals, including Turning Point USA.
- The investigation produced 2023 subpoenas for phone toll records covering Jan. 4–7, 2021 for at least nine Republican lawmakers, seeking metadata such as numbers, times, durations, and general location, not call content.
- In new oversight action, Grassley asked Smith to detail meetings with the White House and senior DOJ/FBI leaders and to identify who approved lawmakers’ toll-record requests, as Smith’s attorneys maintain the subpoenas were narrow and consistent with DOJ policy.