Report: Biden-era FBI's secret probe of Kash Patel

The FBI secretly trawled through two years of phone calls, text messages and personal financial data belonging to Kash Patel, now the bureau's own director, as Joe Biden's Justice Department probed alleged interference in the 2020 election . Special Counsel Jack Smith subpoenaed the records of Patel, then a private citizen, along with eight others, among them Susie Wiles, now Donald Trump's White House Chief of Staff. The FBI investigation into Patel, which began in 2022, was previously reported, but the extent of the record-keeping was not previously known.

Smith's team also sought online usernames, mailing and email addresses, billing records, IP addresses and bank account information, the documents show. Senators Chuck Grassley, Ted Cruz and Ron Johnson released the records ahead of a Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday into the Smith investigation, code-named Arctic Frost. Patel, who held top national security roles in Trump's first administration and served as chief of staff to the acting Defense Secretary in the run-up to January 6, spent time in between administrations running his own legal defense non-profit.

Smith's request included records of calls and texts sent and received but not the contents of those phone calls or messages themselves, the documents show. They included session times and the duration of calls, as well as subscriber information associated with Patel's accounts. One of the subpoenas for the records extended as far back as January 1, 2021, to November 23, 2023. In Chairman Grassley's opening remarks at Tuesday's hearing, he noted that 'the records include a wish list created by Smith's team naming 14 members of Congress for whom they wanted to seek tolling data. Some of those members are senators on this very Committee.'

FBI spokesman Ben Williamson told Reuters that the records show improper actions by Smith and the FBI at the time. 'The FBI under prior leadership was weaponized in ways the American people are only now beginning to fully grasp,' Williamson said. A separate document released by Grassley last year revealed that Republican lawmakers, including members of his own committee, were swept into the probe of the January 6 Capitol riot.

Republican Senators Lindsey Graham, Bill Hagerty, Josh Hawley, Dan Sullivan, Tommy Tuberville, Ron Johnson, Cynthia Lummis and Marsha Blackburn, were probed, according to the FBI document published by Grassley. Pennsylvania's Republican Representative Mike Kelly was also investigated, according to the document. The one-page file was created during Smith's Arctic Frost investigation, which probed both the riot and election interference claims.

The file sheds light on how the FBI conducted its investigation and used phone records to track sitting lawmakers. It is titled CAST Assistance, which refers to the agency's cellular analysis survey team. The file is dated September 27, 2023, confirming the investigation into Republican lawmakers' cellular data ran well into Biden's presidency.

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