‘Biden admin. enemies list’ targeted hundreds of Republicans

Daily News Article — Posted on October 31, 2025

(by James Morley, Newsmax) – Documents released Tuesday by the House Judiciary Committee show that FBI agents across the country [under the Biden administration] participated in…an investigation into more than 160 Republicans for alleged 2020 election-related offenses.

The scope of former DOJ prosecutor Jack Smith’s case…[questioning of the legitimacy of the] the 2020 election [results] appears to have been larger than previously understood. According to the committee, 198 new documents were made public.

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chairman of the committee, disclosed that new records, provided by FBI Director Kash Patel, reveal the…investigation was broader than initially believed. The probe appeared to extend deeply into Trump’s political network as the former president prepared for his 2024 campaign.

The newly released documents reinforce Republican claims that there was a concerted effort by the Biden administration to “take down President Trump and his supporters.”

The documents indicate that 45 individuals closely affiliated with Trump were identified for potential investigation.

111 others within Trump’s wider political circle, including Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro, Trump senior adviser Dan Scavino, Steve Bannon, Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, John Eastman, Jeffrey Clark, and Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., were also flagged for scrutiny.

In September, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, revealed on Capitol Hill that Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA, was among the Republican-linked groups targeted under the operations, named “Arctic Frost.”

The operation, Grassley said, had been approved initially by the then-FBI Director Christopher Wray and then elevated by Biden’s then-Attorney General Merrick Garland.

[Grassley and others, have described the investigation as a broad, indiscriminate “fishing expedition” and politically motivated. The senator stated that the investigation was arguably “worse than Watergate” due to its unconstitutional and politically driven nature. He said,

(“The Biden administration investigation) was the vehicle by which partisan FBI agents and DOJ prosecutors could improperly investigate the entire Republican political apparatus. Contrary to what (Jack) Smith has said publicly, this was clearly a fishing expedition.”

“If this happened to the Democrats, they’d be as rightly outraged as we are.”

Senators Ron Johnson and Ted Cruz have called for accountability and characterize the investigation as an abuse of power by the Biden administration. Republicans are particularly disturbed by the seizure of phone records, subpoenaing of confidential information, and surveillance of their communications despite a lack of evidence that they were involved in any wrongdoing or criminal activity].

Published at Newsmax on Oct 29. Reprinted here for educational purposes only. May not be reproduced on other websites without permission.

Key points claimed by Republicans:

Despite the broad language, internal FBI docs (FD-302s, whistleblower leaks) show:

No individualized probable cause for most targets
Mass data collection used to map political networks, not investigate specific crimes
Targets had zero connection to violence (e.g., Senators who only objected to certification of the 2020 presidential election results)
Rep. Jim Jordan (2025 letter to Judge Boasberg): “The applications misled the Court by implying criminal conduct where none existed — using Jan 6 as a pretext to surveil an entire political party.”

What Smith’s Team Claimed:

Specific Crime(s) Under Investigation:

Conspiracy to defraud the U.S. (§ 371)
False statements (§ 1001)
Obstruction of Congress (§ 1512)
Seditious conspiracy (§ 2384) (rarely used)

(the information above from Grok, Oct. 30, 2025)

Background

What happened?

Jack Smith, special counsel to the Biden DOJ, conducted extensive investigations into multiple Republican individuals and groups associated with then-former President Trump, issuing numerous subpoenas for communications, financial records, and testimonies. There have been no criminal indictments or proven criminal activities against the group of 400 Republican individuals and organizations he subpoenaed and investigated. (Perplexity, Oct. 30)

Why are Republicans angry?

Republicans are expressing outrage due to the belief that the Biden FBI overstepped its bounds, conducting broad investigations into individuals not involved in criminal activity but solely targeted due to political affiliations.
Republicans argue that the investigation, codenamed "Arctic Frost," was improperly focused on investigating efforts related to the 2020 election, false elector schemes, and other political activities — some of which include allegations of surveillance on senators and former officials without transparent evidence of criminal wrongdoing.
Some Republicans have also expressed concern that the investigation involved disclosure of nonpublic, confidential grand jury material and that it infringed on civil liberties and congressional oversight norms, especially regarding the surveillance of elected officials.
In summary, the outrage stems from perceived overreach, misuse of investigative powers, and the belief that the investigation was politically targeted to weaken Republican figures or oppress conservative political activities.

Partisan special prosecutor Jack Smith found no wrongdoing by any of the 400+ Republican targets.

The widespread Republican outrage is due to the fact that the Arctic Frost investigation was an unjust, politically driven effort to target Republicans without sufficient legal basis. (from Perplexity, Oct. 30 and Axios)

The types of personal information Smith's team obtained include:

Phone records & call metadata
Bank & financial records (account numbers, transactions)
Credit reports (from TransUnion, Experian, Equifax).
Emails, donor lists & communications (from Salesforce, WinRed, Trello).
Employment & legal billing records
Government cell phones (Trump & Pence)

Special Counsel Jack Smith (via the DOJ and FBI under Operation Arctic Frost) subpoenaed major phone companies for personal information and call records of hundreds of Republican individuals, including U.S. Senators, Congressmen, Trump aides, and private citizens.

Subpoenas were issued to: AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint (pre-merger with T-Mobile), Google (for Android/Google Voice data)

Sen. Grassley and Rep. Jordan call it unconstitutional mass surveillance, saying:

There was no individualized probable cause
The info obtained was used to map political networks, not investigate specific crimes
Jack Smith violated their 4th Amendment rights

Grassley: “This was a fishing expedition… worse than Watergate.”

Read the press release from the Senate Judiciary Committee.