Overview
- Senate Republicans released internal FBI and DOJ records Tuesday and used a Judiciary hearing to detail “Operation Rampart Twelve,” a 2021 preliminary probe of several Republican members of Congress.
- The investigation opened Jan. 22, 2021 and focused on Reps. Lauren Boebert, Paul Gosar, Andy Biggs, and former Rep. Mo Brooks, and agents obtained phone toll records for at least Boebert and Gosar.
- Texts from prosecutors J.P. Cooney and Molly Gaston show they called Rep. Mikie Sherrill’s ‘reconnaissance tour’ allegations embarrassing and incredible even as they discussed pursuing leads and scoping legal options.
- Cooney told an FBI official that election‑season rules for ‘sensitive investigations’ did not apply because the lawmakers were not declared candidates, and FBI headquarters directed the case closed in January 2022 after about a year.
- Republicans say Rampart Twelve was a forerunner to the later ‘Arctic Frost’ effort that used many secret metadata requests in 2022, intensifying oversight fights over how investigators seek lawmakers’ records and the limits set by the Speech or Debate Clause.