DOJ Probe Collected Data on Over 600,000 Republican Voters and Donors, Senator Alleges

A large cache of information on hundreds of thousands of Republican voters and donors was collected by the Justice Department under former special counsel Jack Smith, according to an update from Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley. The data was reportedly obtained as part of the "Arctic Frost" probe, launched in 2022 by the Biden administration to investigate efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Grassley, R-Iowa, stated in a memo that Smith's special counsel office and the Justice Department gathered spreadsheets containing Republican campaign donors, supporters, and voter information totaling at least 639,000 individuals. Of these, over 148,000 were identified as donors, primarily making small-dollar contributions.

The collected data included names, dates of birth, physical addresses, email addresses, voter registration status, occupations, places of employment, and credit card information. Grassley asserted that the scope of the data gathered was excessive and beyond what was necessary for the special counsel's mandate.

"This update shows that Jack Smith and the Biden Justice Department collected incredibly invasive donor data — and voter data — beyond what could conceivably be necessary for him or his team to fulfill the [special counsel office’s] mandate," Grassley said in the memo. He added that the collection of information indicated that Smith and his team "aimed to map out the entire Republican Party apparatus."

During a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee last month, Grassley questioned Smith about whether his investigation had gathered data on donors. Smith responded affirmatively, stating, "We acquired financial information." He defended the subpoenas issued as necessary to conduct a criminal investigation into what he described as "one of the most serious crimes that's ever happened in our nation's history."

This latest disclosure follows a previous report from Grassley indicating that Smith's team had collected checks from nearly 5,000 Americans who had donated to former President Donald Trump and Trump-aligned Republican organizations.

Grassley has urged his Democratic colleagues to join his oversight efforts rather than defend Smith and what Grassley characterizes as "abuse of authority."