The Biden FBI opened a secret investigation into Lauren Boebert two days after Biden took the oath.
A prosecutor texted that the evidence was "completely incredible" before it started.
He signed off on it anyway — and what he did next is why Chuck Grassley just blew this open.
Operation Rampart Twelve Targeted Boebert and Gosar With No Evidence
On January 13, 2021 – nine days before the investigation officially opened – federal prosecutor J.P. Cooney received a text from his colleague Molly Gaston about Democrat Rep. Mikie Sherrill's accusation that Lauren Boebert led a "reconnaissance tour" of the Capitol before January 6.
Gaston wrote: "Say for the sake of argument that we did want to look at lauren boebert (i don't think we do)."
Cooney called Sherrill's accusations "embarrassing" and "appalling."
Then he typed four words: "makes her allegations completely incredible."
On January 22, 2021 – nine days later – the FBI opened Operation Rampart Twelve targeting Boebert, Paul Gosar, Andy Biggs, and Mo Brooks.
Cooney later personally signed off on opening it.
Three days after those texts, Cooney and Gaston reviewed Capitol security footage that showed Boebert near Sherrill but not with any suspicious group.
Cooney texted: "There is a MAGA hat group about a minute behind her. But it's a family – with kids."
Gaston replied: "ok. Well, that's too bad."
They grabbed Boebert's phone records anyway.
Biden FBI Weaponization Ran for a Full Year While Thibault Buried the Evidence
By May 2021, the FBI's internal briefing document confirmed agents had nothing.
Agents had reviewed Boebert and Gosar's phone records and Capitol security video and found no evidence linking either member to anyone who entered the Capitol on January 6.
A preliminary investigation without evidence is supposed to close after six months.
In July 2021, FBI Public Corruption Unit agent Leanna Saler emailed agent Timothy Thibault to flag that Rampart Twelve was set to expire.
Thibault responded with no facts, no new leads, and no explanation: "Extend and cite we are awaiting HQ guidance."
Thibault is the same agent Republicans have long alleged played a central role in suppressing the Hunter Biden investigation.
The probe ran for a full year before FBI headquarters finally killed it on January 27, 2022 – with zero charges, zero evidence, and two Congressmembers' phone records permanently in government files.
Cooney and Gaston, who called the case "completely incredible" in private, both joined Jack Smith's team and helped prosecute Donald Trump.
Arctic Frost Documents Show Operation Rampart Twelve Was Only the Beginning
Grassley presented Rampart Twelve at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing as exactly what it is – the beginning of a pattern.
"Rampart Twelve appears to be a predecessor case to Arctic Frost," Grassley said in his statement.
Arctic Frost was the Biden FBI operation that issued 197 subpoenas targeting 430 Republican individuals and organizations, grabbed phone records from 20 Republican members of Congress, and culminated in Smith's indictment of Trump.
Sen. Eric Schmitt called the new documents "bombshell" records proving "bad actors at the highest levels of our government and intelligence agencies targeted broad swaths of the American right and sitting members of Congress with no evidence of wrongdoing."
Sen. Ron Johnson said the messages "show Justice Department attorneys sought to investigate Republicans no matter how spurious the allegation."
A Democrat congresswoman posted accusations on Facebook Live, two of Biden's prosecutors privately agreed those accusations were incredible, and the FBI opened a federal investigation against Republican members of Congress the same month anyway.
Then Cooney and Gaston carried everything they built – the subpoena tactics, the constitutional workarounds, the year of practice targeting Republicans without evidence – straight into Jack Smith's office and used it to indict a president.
Grassley said it plainly: "If not for my investigative work and brave whistleblowers, we wouldn't know about FBI agents' and DOJ prosecutors' disgraceful efforts to try and destroy Republicans."
Kash Patel and Pam Bondi now have the names, the dates, and the texts.
Sources:
- Chuck Grassley, "Grassley Uncovers Additional Biden FBI Weaponization in Operation Rampart Twelve," U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, April 21, 2026.
- Brianna Lyman, "EXCLUSIVE: Biden FBI Probed GOP Members After Prosecutors Privately Called Allegation 'Completely Incredible,'" Daily Caller News Foundation, April 21, 2026.
- Kerry Picket, "Grassley Says FBI Lacked Evidence to Target GOP Over Jan. 6 Reconnaissance-Tour Claims," The Washington Times, April 21, 2026.
- Ashley Oliver, "Grassley: Biden DOJ Bypassed Constitutional Safeguards by Subpoenaing Senator Phone Records," Fox News, February 10, 2026.
- Breccan Thies, "New Records Reveal FBI Cooked Up Another Fake Investigation to Spy on Republicans," The Federalist, April 21, 2026.
