Newly released oversight documents show a sweeping FBI surveillance program that targeted conservative leaders and organizations, and the GOP probe pins the approvals on top Biden administration officials. Senators and activists monitored under what was labeled Operation Arctic Frost were tied to probes led by then-Special Counsel Jack Smith, and the disclosures echo the same institutional overreach conservatives have warned about for years. This piece lays out who signed off, how the program connects to other controversies, and why Republicans say the Justice Department’s biases keep turning up in plain sight.
Shortly after the shocking death of Charlie Kirk in September, Sen. Chuck Grassley announced he had obtained internal files revealing a coordinated FBI effort to monitor multiple Republican senators and conservative groups. The operation, according to those documents, tracked organizations like Turning Point USA and followed communications tied to prominent conservative activists. For Republicans, the files are more proof of institutional mission creep inside law enforcement and intelligence circles.
So, who ordered the code red? Grassley released those findings today: It was Biden Attorney General Merrick Garland, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, and FBI Director Chris Wray. Those names matter because they sit at the top of the Justice Department and the FBI, which means this was not a rogue local action but a decision routed through the senior levels of the federal apparatus. That chain of command explains why conservatives see the behavior as political and systematic, not accidental.
When Democrats scream about politicization of the Justice Department, a lot of people on the right don’t take that seriously because the evidence keeps pointing back to their leaders. The reaction from the left often sounds like shocked outrage while their own appointees quietly authorize invasive programs against political opponents. Accountability demands answers, and Republicans are making it clear they want to follow the paper trail to who approved what and why.
Operation Arctic Frost was tied into Special Counsel Jack Smith’s broader probes into former President Donald Trump, which Republicans say turned into an excuse to widen surveillance beyond the original scope. That probe framework appears to have stretched to include unrelated figures and organizations, creating a legal gray zone where surveillance rules were bent in the name of investigation. Conservatives argue this dynamic routinely lets investigators justify sweeping tactics that should be limited by statute and oversight.
The new documents also resurrect memories of the Russiagate era, when intelligence products and political research collided to devastating effect. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard declassified the documents showing Barack Obama essentially ordered the Steele Dossier to be included in the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment, and that decision helped fuel a long, expensive, and politically toxic inquiry. Republicans point to that episode as a template for how partisan intelligence can be folded into official narratives to justify aggressive actions.
Names like then-DNI James Clapper and former CIA Director John Brennan keep coming up in the backstory, and their roles in amplifying opposition research are part of broader GOP complaints about politicized intelligence. Those officials helped push the narrative that led to years of investigations and headlines, and conservatives see a through-line from those decisions to the surveillance tactics exposed in these recent files. The claim is not that every investigator acted politically, but that the system enabled and protected politically motivated moves.
John Brennan himself testified before Congress in May of 2023 and stated the Steele Dossier “wasn’t part of the corpus of intelligence information that we had. It was not in any way used as a basis for the Intelligence Community Assessment that was done.” That public assurance now looks misleading given declassified records and follow-up probes, and some on the right believe it warrants fresh scrutiny into who knew what and when. If established leaders gave false impressions to Congress, Republicans argue that deserves consequences.
All of this leaves a basic takeaway for conservative voters: trust in the Justice Department and parts of the intelligence community has been badly damaged, and the new revelations reinforce that frustration. Whether it’s mission creep tied to Special Counsel work or recycled methods from earlier controveries, the pattern feels familiar and unacceptable to many on the right. The GOP response will focus on oversight, transparency, and structural reforms to prevent future political targeting by law enforcement.
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