Senate Republicans are expanding their inquiry into former Special Counsel Jack Smith's "Arctic Frost" probe, now focusing on Verizon's handling of subpoenas for senators' phone records. The investigation centers on the telecom company's failure to disclose a subpoena during an earlier congressional records search.
Operation Arctic Frost, the FBI's probe into alleged Trump-election interference led by Smith, involved subpoenaing Verizon and other carriers for toll records from members of Congress and other Republican figures. Toll records, which include metadata like call times, durations, and cell tower locations but not the content of conversations, were among the data sought.
Verizon has since acknowledged omitting Smith's subpoena from its congressional record search. The current dispute questions what Verizon knew about the subpoena, when it was aware of it, and why it did not notify Congress, particularly the affected members, after the records were provided.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, whose own records were obtained, and other senators, including Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, have expressed concern over the alleged "abuse of power by federal government actors" and Verizon's disclosures.
In a letter to Verizon CEO Daniel Schulman, Grassley, along with Senate Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and over a dozen other senators, stated their continued concern not only with the government's actions but also with Verizon's handling of the May 25, 2023, subpoena and its subsequent failure to inform affected members.
The senators noted that Verizon's initial response to a request from Grassley in October 2023 stated the company typically limits the retention of legal processes to four years and had no records prior to October 2019. However, they later learned through documents provided in 2025 that Verizon had acknowledged "human error" caused the omission of Smith's subpoena. This revelation has led to questions about whether Verizon merely overlooked the subpoena or discovered it and chose not to disclose it.
Grassley and the other signatories are demanding Verizon explain when the company first became aware that Smith's subpoena included phone records of members of Congress and when it discovered it had transmitted data connected to those members to Smith's team. They have also requested specific details regarding the "human error" explanation and internal records from May 2023 to October 2025 concerning Verizon's obligation, if any, to notify implicated members of Congress or the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms.
The inquiry also points out that the "human error" explanation does not clarify why Smith's May 25, 2023, subpoena was excluded from Verizon's review of legal processes involving Senate phone lines, even though two Senate Sergeant-at-Arms numbers were included in the subpoena.
Documents provided to Grassley in 2025 indicated that while Verizon complied with Smith's requests, AT&T initially resisted similar demands. Both subpoenas were reportedly accompanied by one-year gag orders from U.S. District Judge James Boasberg.
Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans have criticized Smith's "Arctic Frost" probe, with some likening it to "worse than Watergate."
Grassley's letter has given Verizon until August 13 to provide answers regarding its knowledge of senators' records being involved, internal notifications, and the reason for the May 2023 subpoena's omission from its earlier congressional response.