An FBI investigation launched after the 2020 election scrutinized almost 100 Republican and GOP-aligned organizations and individuals, including Turning Point USA, according to unclassified bureau files published Tuesday by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley.
The probe, codenamed “Arctic Frost,” opened in April 2022 under then-FBI Director Christopher Wray and focused on at least 92 Republican-linked entities, the documents show. Chairman Grassley released the files during a committee hearing and said the records demonstrated the inquiry “was much broader than just an electoral matter” and expanded to include prominent Republican organizations.
The newly disclosed material shows investigators pursued a range of lines of inquiry tied to the contested 2020 results: purportedly false election-fraud claims, fake-elector schemes, frivolous lawsuits, financial fraud and alleged pressure on state officials to alter vote counts. One of the unclassified FBI documents described the matter as involving “subjects from the private sector, in numerous battleground states (Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan, New Mexico, and Arizona), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the White House.”
Among the political organizations the records identified as subjects of the inquiry were the Republican National Committee and the Republican Attorneys General Association. The files also listed Trump-aligned political action committees and fundraising committees, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department official. The documents include references to groups tied to the Jan. 6, 2021, events, using the shorthand “J6 $,” which investigators explored as possible links to groups that backed or participated in the “Stop the Steal” rally and the Capitol breach.
Turning Point USA, the conservative youth organization co-founded by Charlie Kirk, appeared on the list of entities the bureau examined, though the documents do not make clear the precise basis for that inquiry. Charlie Kirk was fatally shot on Sept. 10 during a Turning Point USA speaking engagement at Utah Valley University.
Senator Grassley said the files showed the probe was not narrowly limited to the case’s original electoral focus. “Arctic Frost wasn’t just a case to politically investigate Trump,” he said at the hearing. “It was the vehicle by which partisan FBI agents and DOJ prosecutors could achieve their partisan ends and improperly investigate the entire Republican political apparatus.”
Jeffrey Clark, who drew scrutiny for urging state officials to examine alleged voting irregularities and suggesting appointing alternate electors in 2020, said on the social platform X that the newly released files demonstrated he had been “targeted” over his financial records. Clark, who at one point was reportedly under consideration to serve as acting attorney general, now holds a position as a regulatory official at the Office of Management and Budget.
The Arctic Frost investigation was run in coordination with other federal entities, including the National Archives, the Department of Justice’s Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Postal Service, according to the files. In November 2022 the case was transferred to then-special counsel Jack Smith. Smith later brought separate federal charges against former President Donald Trump — including counts related to classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago and charges tied to efforts to overturn the 2020 election — though neither of Smith’s cases reached trial before Trump’s successful 2024 reelection campaign and were ultimately dismissed.
The release of the unclassified documents is likely to renew partisan debate over the FBI’s handling of post-2020 investigations. Republicans on the Judiciary Committee have argued the materials show overreach, while the bureau has previously defended its investigative steps as part of inquiries into potential criminal conduct arising from the 2020 aftermath. The documents published Tuesday provide the first public record from the committee detailing the scope and targets of Arctic Frost but do not include previously classified material that might shed additional light on investigative decisions.
Republican officials responded to the release by citing the breadth of the files. In the aftermath of the killing of Charlie Kirk, some Republican leaders including Sen. J.D. Vance and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller called for tougher law enforcement action against groups they described as promoting political violence; those remarks followed the disclosure that some organizations tied to Jan. 6 activities were among the subjects of Arctic Frost. The committee’s release did not include responses from the named organizations detailing whether they were notified of or cooperated with any investigative steps.
The unclassified files published Tuesday add to the public record about how federal law enforcement and related agencies pursued allegations arising from the 2020 election and its disputed aftermath. They also underscore continuing partisan scrutiny of investigative decisions that involved senior Justice Department and FBI officials during a politically fraught period.
Further review of the records by lawmakers and outside analysts could prompt additional hearings or oversight actions, but the unclassified files themselves stop short of drawing conclusions about the propriety of investigative choices made during Arctic Frost.