The Deep State thought they could spy on Republican senators and get away with it.
But one Tennessee senator just drew a line in the sand.
And Marsha Blackburn put cell phone companies on notice for this illegal FBI surveillance.
Blackburn demands answers about FBI spying operation "Arctic Frost"
Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) isn’t letting sleeping dogs lie when it comes to the FBI’s outrageous surveillance of Republican lawmakers.
She fired off letters to AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon demanding they explain exactly how they cooperated with Joe Biden’s FBI to spy on her and seven other Republican senators.¹
The revelations about "Arctic Frost" – the FBI’s investigation that later fed into Special Counsel Jack Smith’s probe – have left Republicans furious about the blatant weaponization of law enforcement against political opponents.
Blackburn wants these telecom companies to answer tough questions about why they cooperated with Biden’s FBI instead of protecting their customers’ privacy rights.
The Tennessee senator is seeking a complete explanation of how the Justice Department’s subpoenas were processed in 2023 as part of the investigation that later became part of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation of President Trump.
The subpoenas requested what’s called "tolling data" – detailed records showing when calls were made, their duration, and originating locations – covering the period from January 4-7, 2021.
"We first learned that the Biden Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) spied on duly elected members of Congress, specifically seeking and ultimately obtaining ‘tolling data’ from cell phones as part of its corrupt, politically motivated Arctic Frost investigation," Blackburn wrote in the October 9th letters.²
She’s not asking nicely anymore.
Blackburn wants to know who authorized compliance with these surveillance subpoenas, when those decisions were approved, and most importantly – why these companies apparently didn’t challenge what appears to be government overreach.
The spying operation was worse than anyone imagined
The scope of Biden’s surveillance state targeting Republican lawmakers is staggering.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) dropped a bombshell on Monday when he disclosed on X an FBI document dated September 27, 2023, showing agents performed "toll-record analysis" on several GOP lawmakers.³
Grassley called it "worse than Watergate" – and he’s not wrong.
The targeted lawmakers included Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), and Blackburn herself, plus Representative Mike Kelly (R-PA).
These weren’t random targets.
Every single one of these lawmakers has been a thorn in the side of the Deep State’s agenda.
While the records didn’t capture actual conversation content, the metadata showed dates, times, durations, and locations of calls – essentially creating a detailed communication map of who these senators were contacting and when.
That’s exactly the kind of intelligence political operatives could use to intimidate sources, pressure allies, or plan strategic attacks.
"The FBI under Joe Biden’s watch exercised authority that it did not have," she said in a statement released Friday, thanking Justice Department and FBI leadership aligned with the Trump administration for launching follow-up reviews into this mess.⁴
Democrats turned law enforcement into their personal opposition research team
Look, this isn’t just about phone records.
This is about a corrupt administration that weaponized the most powerful law enforcement agencies in the world against their political opponents.
The lawmakers maintain there was no legitimate criminal predicate justifying subpoenas for members of Congress – and they’re absolutely right.
The senators said the investigative step was approved by a grand jury, though they have insisted there was no criminal predicate justifying subpoenas for members of Congress.
Blackburn’s letters are asking the right questions: Did any real criminal predicate exist for these surveillance operations? What steps did these companies take to protect lawmakers’ privacy? And why didn’t they challenge subpoenas that any competent legal team would have recognized as government overreach?
"We deserve transparency on this invasion of privacy, and I can assure you that accountability is coming," Blackburn wrote.⁵
That’s not just a promise – it’s a threat that should have every Deep State operative worried about their future employment prospects.
The three telecommunications companies haven’t publicly responded to Blackburn’s demands yet, but she’s made it clear that unsatisfactory answers will trigger further action.
For too long, these telecommunications companies have acted like junior partners in the surveillance state instead of defenders of their customers’ constitutional rights.
Blackburn is forcing them to pick a side – and with Trump back in the White House, they’d better choose wisely.
The FBI’s "Arctic Frost" operation represents everything that’s wrong with the weaponized justice system that Republicans just voted to tear down.
Spying on political opponents isn’t law enforcement – it’s the kind of authoritarian overreach that belongs in Communist China, not the United States of America.
¹ Charlie McCarthy, "Sen. Blackburn: Telecoms Must Explain FBI Spying on Senators," Newsmax, October 10, 2025.
² Ibid.
³ Ibid.
⁴ Ibid.
⁵ Ibid.
