The Biden White House handed over government cellphones belonging to then-former President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence to the FBI in May 2022 as part of a probe into the aftermath of the 2020 election, linking Trump to the investigation without sufficient justification.
According to Fox News Digital, which first reported the finding, the FBI did not require a warrant to seize the phones from the Biden White House. However, after obtaining the devices, agents began drafting a search warrant to access their data, sources familiar with the investigation told the outlet.
“The Biden White House played right along with the FBI’s ‘gotcha’ scheme against Trump,” a source familiar with the investigation told the outlet. “Biden’s Office of White House Counsel, under the leadership of Dana Remus and Jonathan Su, gave its blessing and accommodation for the FBI to physically obtain Trump and Pence’s phones in early May 2022. Weeks later, the FBI began drafting a search warrant to extract the phones’ data.”
The phones were seized and entered into evidence as part of the FBI’s initial investigation into the 2020 election, which eventually was taken over by special counsel Jack Smith. Internally known as “Arctic Frost,” the case was opened on April 13, 2022, by former FBI agent Timothy Thibault, who was known for his anti-Trump stance.
According to whistleblowers, Thibault violated protocol by playing a pivotal role in launching and advancing the bureau’s investigation related to the 2020 election, thereby linking Trump to the probe without sufficient basis, Fox reported. He overstepped his authority by initiating the investigation and involving Trump—actions reserved exclusively for special agents authorized to open criminal investigations.
Thibault pledged to make the investigation “prioritized over all others in the Branch” and commented at the time that “it frankly took too long for us to open this (investigation),” according to documents reviewed by Fox News.
By late April 2022, the FBI had started scheduling over a dozen interviews for the investigation, coordinating with 13 field offices nationwide, Fox News learned.
The details come from legally protected whistleblower disclosures submitted to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Senate Subcommittee on Investigations Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis), which Fox News reviewed. Grassley and Johnson submitted the whistleblower disclosures and records to Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel late Thursday, the outlet reported.
“The new records we are making public point to an aggressive investigation run by anti-Trump agents and prosecutors intent on using every resource available to pursue Trump and his supporters,” Grassley and Johnson wrote.
The first record tied to the Trump and Pence phones was dated April 25, 2022. It said: “DOJ and FBI were informed that government-issued cellphones that purportedly previously belonged to former Vice President Mike Pence and former President Donald J. Trump were in the possession of individuals at the White House. DOJ is currently conducting analysis regarding the FBI taking possession of and processing the phones.”
Records indicate that on May 4, 2022, FBI agents seized the two phones belonging to Trump and Pence, entered them into evidence, and held off processing until search warrants were secured. On the same day, agents also interviewed Deputy White House Counsel Jonathan Su.
Subsequently, on May 9, 2022, a follow-up letter requesting additional information about the phones was sent from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., to White House Counsel Dana Remus, Fox noted, adding that it wasn’t clear if then-President Biden was aware of the situation or had ordered the phones turned over.
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Agents also aimed to interview former Trump administration officials, including staff from the offices of the President and Vice President, the Department of Justice, and then-Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe—who now serves as the CIA director in the second Trump administration.
“Sunshine is the best disinfectant,” Grassley and Johnson wrote to Bondi and Patel Thursday, according to Fox. “The American people deserve to know the complete extent of the corruption within the DOJ and FBI that led to the investigation into President Trump.”