Garland Personally Ordered Anti-Trump Arctic Frost Probe

Authored by Luis Cornelio via Headline USA,

A newly declassified memorandum confirms that the FBI’s anti-Trump Arctic Frost probe was requested by FBI Director Chris Wray and personally approved in 2022 by Attorney General Merrick Garland, the two top officials in the Biden DOJ. 

The memorandum—written by Wray and addressed to Garland on April 4, 2022—explicitly requested authorization to launch the probe. 

“Your approval is requested as soon as possible,” Wray wrote in the memo for the “Approval to Open a Certain Sensitive Investigative Matter Investigation.”

In its summary, Wray said the probe would center around President Donald Trump’s challenge to the certification of the 2020 election and the alleged submission of alternate electors to the federal government.

“Open source reporting and public statements made by individuals closely associated with Donald J. Trump, Inc. (Trump Campaign) present an articulate factual basis indicating the existence of a federal crime, and thus the FBI seeks to open a full investigation,” Wray proclaimed. 

Wray noted Garland’s personal approval was needed due to the sensitive nature of the probe. 

The file also shows Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco left a hand-written note to Garland reading, “Merrick – I recommend you approve. LM 4/5/22.” 

Signatures on the memo confirm Garland approved the probe that same day. 

The controversial memo was released by the Trump administration after Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, requested its declassification. 

In an X post, Grassley decried that the memorandum ultimately unleashed “unchecked” government power at the highest levels.

Just received this doc frm DOJ Proof that Biden Atty General Merrick Garland+ Deputy Atty General Lisa Monaco+ FBI Dir Chris Wray all PERSONALLY APPROVED opening Arctic Frost

This investigation unleashed unchecked govt power at the highest levels My oversight will continue pic.twitter.com/atuRnC8ara

— Chuck Grassley (@ChuckGrassley) October 23, 2025

Grassley’s criticisms are not unfounded.  

Declassified documents confirm that the FBI probe expanded to include extensive surveillance of multiple conservative organizations, including Turning Point USA, the Conservative Partnership Institute and several pro-Trump super PACs.  

The probe also targeted the phone records of at least eight lawmakers, seven Republicans and one congressman. 

This probe also paved the way for Garland’s appointment of Special Counsel Jack Smith, who went on to criminally indict Trump twice, the first time in U.S. history a former president faced such charges.