The FBI tracked Republican senators as part of its Arctic Frost investigation, a newly disclosed document shows.

FBI agents obtained data on the cellphone use of Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), according to the document, which was made public by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Oct. 6.

They obtained information known as toll records from the phones. The data shows where, when, and to whom a call is made. It doesn’t include the content of the call, according to senators.

The document was dated Sept. 27, 2023, after President Donald Trump was charged by grand juries presented with cases by special counsel Jack Smith.

Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) was also tracked.

“Based on the evidence to-date, Arctic Frost and related weaponization by federal law enforcement under Biden was arguably worse than Watergate,” Grassley said in a statement.

He described the FBI’s actions in the investigation as “an unconstitutional breach” and called on FBI Director Kash Patel to hold accountable the personnel involved.

An automated message from the FBI’s press office indicated that a response to a request for comment would not be coming immediately because of the government shutdown.

Patel wrote on X on Oct. 7 that he and other leaders have promised transparency, and in the wake of the latest disclosure of “the baseless monitoring of members of Congress by the prior leadership team of the FBI,” the agency has terminated employees, eliminated the FBI’s public corruption team, and started an investigation that he said will lead to additional measures.

Attorney General Pam Bondi told lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Oct. 7 that Arctic Frost was “an unconstitutional, undemocratic abuse of power.”

When asked whether she had sought waivers of secrecy so all documents related to Arctic Frost could be produced to Congress, Bondi said she would be working with Patel.

“There’s not much more we can say about the issue, for obvious reasons, at this time,” she said.

This information has also drawn the ire of The White House.

“The Biden administration’s weaponization of the justice system against their political opponents is one of the biggest corruption scandals in American history,” White House Spokesman Kush Desai told The Epoch Times. “The Trump administration will continue to restore accountability and trust in our government.”

Arctic Frost

Arctic Frost is the name of a probe that started in 2022 under then-President Joe Biden. It was launched into the alleged conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Officials said the aim of the alleged conspiracy was to keep Trump in office after Biden won.

Grassley has pointed to documents, including emails, that indicate that then-FBI official Timothy Thibault, who expressed anti-Trump views on social media, was behind the probe.

The FBI carried out the investigation with other agencies, including the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

The investigation was later taken over by special counsel Jack Smith, who ended up charging Trump. Smith wrote in his final report that toll records show that Trump tried reaching out to two U.S. senators and also directed a co-conspirator to call members of Congress to convince them to delay certifying the election results.

“We need you, our Republican friends, to try to just slow it down so we can get these legislatures to get more information to you,” Smith quoted from one voicemail to an unnamed senator.

The charges were dropped after Trump won the 2024 race.

It was previously known that Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) and lawyers representing Trump were among those who had phones seized as part of the Arctic Frost probe. Lawmakers have also released records showing that the FBI acquired cellphones used by Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence during the investigation.

Another document shows that the investigation targeted 92 conservative organizations, including Turning Point USA, led by Charlie Kirk, now deceased. Grassley asked Patel about those records during a September hearing, prompting Patel to tell him that “this FBI will not be weaponized anymore, on either side of the aisle.”

Senators React

Senators who learned they were surveilled said that the FBI abused its power.

“We were surveilled simply for being Republicans,” Johnson wrote on X. “This does not surprise me, but it should shock every American. What the Biden Administration has done is an outrageous abuse of power—it is blatant political persecution. Those responsible must be held fully accountable.”

Lummis said the FBI acted outside the law.

“Targeting and spying on me and my Republican colleagues for representing our constituents is unconstitutional and outright authoritarian,” she wrote on X. “This blatant abuse of power can never happen in America again.”

Hawley, during the hearing with Bondi on Oct. 7, highlighted other actions from the FBI and Department of Justice during the previous administration, including recruiting informants among Catholic institutions.

“This is what was happening under Joe Biden: United States senators spied upon. Former presidents, the political opponents of the president at that time, targeted, prosecuted. Pro-lifers targeted, prosecuted. Catholics targeted, prosecuted. Ninety-two conservative organizations put under surveillance, targeted for potential prosecution,” he said.

Bondi said: “That is the ultimate weaponization. And weaponization under Donald Trump has ended.”