Blackburn joins GOP senators urging DOJ to unseal Arctic Frost grand jury materials

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., joined three Republican colleagues Monday in calling on the Department of Justice to unseal grand jury materials from the “Arctic Frost” investigation that authorized secret subpoenas for members of Congress’ phone records.

In a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, Blackburn and Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Josh Hawley of Missouri, and Rick Scott of Florida urged the DOJ to release the application for a non-disclosure order signed by Chief Judge James E. Boasberg in 2023. The order required telecommunications companies to keep the department’s subpoenas confidential for one year.

According to the senators, Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office issued the subpoenas in May 2023, seeking “tolling data” — including the time, duration, recipient, and location of calls — made on lawmakers’ phones between January 4 and January 7, 2021. They said the order prevented the affected members of Congress from being notified.

“Astoundingly, Judge Boasberg found ‘reasonable grounds’ to conclude that, if we were notified of these unlawful subpoenas, such disclosure will result in destruction of or tampering with evidence, intimidation of potential witnesses, and serious jeopardy to the investigation,” the senators wrote. “Without citing any factual basis to support these supposed reasonable grounds, Judge Boasberg determined that multiple United States Senators would destroy evidence and intimidate witnesses — a conclusion that defies both logic and the facts.”

The lawmakers called the order “a blatant abuse of power” and said unsealing the application that accompanied it is necessary for transparency.

“The American people deserve to know more about the ‘reasonable grounds’ that Judge Boasberg found to avoid informing us of these unlawful subpoenas,” they wrote. “Unsealing this document is a critical step forward in our efforts to hold accountable Jack Smith, Judge Boasberg, and all individuals who participated in this miscarriage of justice.”

The senators argued that the Stored Communications Act requires the government to show factual grounds when seeking a non-disclosure order and said the DOJ should make the underlying records public.

As of Monday evening, the Justice Department had not responded to the request.