Grassley memo says Arctic Frost probe obtained data on 639,000 Republican voters and donors

Right · 2Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said in a memo on Wednesday 14 October 2026 that former special counsel Jack Smith's office and the Biden-era Justice Department obtained data on at least 639,000 Republican voters and donors during the Arctic Frost investigation. 1 2 Right · 1Grassley wrote that more than 148,000 rows in the spreadsheets were identified as donors, who generally gave small amounts. 2 Right · 2The data included names, dates of birth, physical and email addresses, party registration, occupation and employer, credit card information, donor analysis data and donation amounts. 2 1

Right · 1Just the News reported that the data spanned 2005 to 2021, which Grassley described as "well outside Smith's scope of purported review", and that it came in response to Grassley's subpoenas about Smith's efforts to gain data on Trump-aligned groups. 1 Right · 1Just the News also reported that, according to Grassley, investigators obtained the names of Trump campaign personnel, possibly including volunteers, and information on sales of red MAGA hats, including buyers, purchases and shipping addresses. 1 Right · 2Grassley said the collection went beyond what the special counsel's mandate could conceivably require and argued it showed Smith's team "aimed to map out the entire Republican Party apparatus"; he urged Democratic colleagues to join his oversight work. 2 1

Right · 1Arctic Frost was launched by the Justice Department in 2022 to investigate efforts to overturn the 2020 election results; Smith testified before the Judiciary Committee last month. 2 Right · 1At that hearing Smith, asked for a yes or no on whether the investigation gathered donor data, said "Yes. We acquired financial information," adding that he could not recite every subpoena but that they were issued to conduct a criminal investigation. 2 Right · 1The memo follows Grassley's earlier disclosure that Smith's team subpoenaed checks from nearly 5,000 Americans who donated to Trump and aligned Republican entities; Fox News Digital said it asked Smith's new law firm for comment, and no response is reported. 2