Jack Smith secretly subpoenaed the phone records of eight sitting United States senators.
He stayed quiet for months – then resurfaced at a private Washington club with something to say.
What he had the audacity to claim about the Justice Department will leave you speechless.
Jack Smith Arctic Frost Speech Surfaces on Video
Smith delivered his remarks April 20 at the Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C., to an audience of 300 that included former DOJ officials.
The New York Times obtained video of the speech and published it.
Smith accused the Justice Department of having been "corrupted over the last year" by Trump appointees he claimed were more eager to impress their boss than follow laws, rules, and norms.
"We have a Department of Justice today that targets people for criminal prosecution simply because the president doesn't like them," Smith told the room.
Trump's DOJ responded with five words: "I would expect nothing less."
Smith believes Trump will demand his prosecution – people familiar with his thinking say he considers that outcome likely.
A private club speech to 300 attendees is a convenient way to shape public opinion without raising your right hand.
Arctic Frost Targeted Republican Senators Phone Records and Kash Patel
Chuck Grassley has spent months making Smith's actual record public.
Under the Arctic Frost codename, Smith's team blanketed the Republican political apparatus with 197 grand jury subpoenas covering more than 430 named individuals and organizations.
Grassley put it plainly: "Arctic Frost was the vehicle by which partisan FBI agents and DOJ prosecutors could improperly investigate the entire Republican political apparatus."
One of those 430 targets – America First Legal – did not exist on January 6, 2021.
Smith's team secretly obtained phone records for eight Republican senators – Lindsey Graham, Josh Hawley, Ron Johnson, Tommy Tuberville, and others – covering the days surrounding January 6, and the senators were kept in the dark by court-ordered nondisclosure orders signed by anti-Trump Judge James Boasberg.
Smith also pulled Kash Patel's phone records with two separate subpoenas while Patel was still a private citizen.
Patel is now the FBI Director.
Grassley Says Jack Smith Misled Congress on Arctic Frost Scope
Jonathan Turley said it precisely in February: Smith "has long demanded accountability for others while evading such accountability for his own actions."
Smith appeared before the House Judiciary Committee in closed-door testimony in December 2025, claimed the decision to charge Trump was his alone, denied political motivation, and told investigators he never once spoke to Joe Biden about the investigations.
That testimony is now sitting next to 197 subpoenas and a target list that included organizations that didn't exist when January 6 happened.
Grassley says Smith "misled Congress and the public, if not outright lied."
The Cosmos Club speech is the same strategy in a different room – talk to audiences who already agree, stay away from venues where the questions have legal consequences.
Chuck Grassley has been on the Senate floor reading Arctic Frost documents into the congressional record.
Kash Patel has been in the FBI director's chair since January 2025.
Jack Smith is giving private speeches about corruption to rooms full of former DOJ officials.
He already had his chance to say all of this under oath. He chose a Washington club instead.
Sources:
- Amy Furr, "Report: Former Special Counsel Jack Smith, Who Targeted President Trump and His Allies, Claims DOJ Has Been 'Corrupted,'" Breitbart News, May 7, 2026.
- "New: Jack Smith Subpoenaed Records for Over 400 Republican Targets as Part of Arctic Frost," Senate Judiciary Committee, October 29, 2025.
- "Biden FBI Spied on Eight Republican Senators as Part of Arctic Frost Investigation," Senate Judiciary Committee, October 6, 2025.
- Stephen Dinan, "Jack Smith Sought Phone Records of Kash Patel Before He Was FBI Chief," Washington Times, March 24, 2026.
- Jonathan Turley, "Jack Smith's Secret Surveillance of Wiles and Patel Is Chilling Abuse of Power," Fox News, February 26, 2026.
