Biden FBI Spying on GOP: Smoking Gun or Smoke and Mirrors?

TOP LINE
This week, one story in particular underscored apparent bias in the media and frankly, lazy reporting.

While some journalists parroted talking points that the FBI’s collection of GOP Senators' phone records in 2023 was no big deal, seasoned federal agents told me otherwise.

I heard from a handful of veteran investigators that the collection of ‘tolling data” is one of the most revealing investigative tools available to law enforcement.

The extraordinary move by Special Counsel Jack Smith was likely part of an effort to build a broader conspiracy case linked to January 6.

DEEP DIVE

The single page FBI report sent shock waves through Capitol Hill.

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Released by GOP Senator Chuck Grassley, it shows that in 2023 Special Counsel Jack Smith took the extraordinary step of analyzing ‘tolling data” from eight republican Senators. (Their phone records were between January 4 and January 7 2021.)

Tolling data or Toll records include phone numbers, length of conversation and the approximate location of the callers. While the content of the conversation is not accessible, the callers can be identified through the numbers.

The FBI targeted the following Members of Congress:

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) 

Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) 

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) 

Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) 

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) 

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) 

Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) 

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) 

Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.)

The 2023 FBI record was found in a Prohibited Access File.  Regular readers of this newsletter know I reported on Prohibited Access Files in June when their existence was revealed by FBI Director Kash Patel.

“Prohibited Access” means routine searches in the FBI database turn up false-negatives.  In other words, the highly sensitive records exist, but a search of the FBI records system returns zero hits. It’s like the ultimate, bureaucratic black hole.   

The intention appears to be three fold: 

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