In an unprecedented move, the Justice Department under the former President Joe Biden administration issued a subpoena to Verizon, demanding the personal phone records of Republican Rep. Jim Jordan (OH-4).
The subpoena, part of the "Arctic Frost" investigation, spanned over two years, according to documents obtained by Fox News Digital.
As reported by RedState, the subpoena was issued by a prosecutor who later joined special counsel Jack Smith's investigation into the events of January 6. The demand was for Verizon to provide toll records, which include call and message metadata, but not the actual content of the communications.
The timeline for these records extended from over a year before the largely peaceful protest at the Capitol in 2021, up to the issuance of the subpoena in late April 2022.
The "Arctic Frost" operation, which culminated in election-related charges against President Trump, required Verizon to appear in court weeks later to produce the requested materials. These included text and image data, as well as "encryption/authentication" data. The subpoena also sought records for three other redacted phone numbers and came with a one-year gag order.
The scope of the "Arctic Frost" operation was already known to be extensive, but the revelation that Jordan's cell phone records were accessed for such a prolonged period indicates an even broader reach. Fox News reporter Ashley Oliver characterized it as "the most expansive yet of the publicly known subpoenas targeting senators and current and former House members" during the operation.
The Biden administration's use of the Justice Department to obtain personal information about political opponents under the guise of preserving democracy raises serious concerns. At the time, Jordan, the House Judiciary Committee Chairman, was the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, which oversees the DOJ, making him a significant target for the administration.
"They spied on President Trump. They spied on Senators. Now, we just learned, they spied on me. If they can do it to us, they can do it to you," Jordan tweeted, expressing his outrage over the situation.
In an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity, Jordan elaborated on the extent of the subpoena and the investigation into him. All the way back to January of 2020, they gathered information that told them who I call, who called me, when we called each other, when the call took place, how long the call was and where I was at when I made that call they got location as well and they gathered that over a time period of 28 months, he said.
Jordan condemned the investigation as the "epitome of the weaponization of government against the other party."
However, Jordan was not the only target of the Biden administration's DOJ. They also sought private phone records from U.S. senators, including Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), and the former Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy. According to Attorney General Pam Bondi, the Special Counsel even "seized President Trumps government-issued phone."
In a different era, such actions would have dominated the news cycle, being seen as a clear case of government weaponization. However, the American media have largely ignored Biden's overreach, focusing instead on a pro-Democrat narrative that accuses Trump of similar actions.
The act of seizing phones and accessing personal records of political opponents is reminiscent of tactics employed by actual fascists. Yet, the media, often criticized as the enemy of the people, have largely chosen to ignore it. This raises questions about the role of the media in holding those in power accountable, and the potential dangers of unchecked governmental power.
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