A newly surfaced whistleblower disclosure has revealed that an FBI agent with a known anti-Trump bias allegedly violated protocol while playing a pivotal role in initiating and advancing the bureau’s investigation into the 2020 election. The investigation, which linked President Donald Trump to the probe without sufficient predication, was formally opened on April 13, 2022, under the internal codename “Arctic Frost,” according to a Thursday report.
According to documents obtained by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the agent’s actions raised concerns about potential misconduct and partisan motivations within the FBI. The whistleblower claims suggest that procedural safeguards were bypassed to fast-track the case, a move that critics argue was aimed at politically targeting Trump rather than upholding impartial justice, Fox News reported.
Grassley, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), chair of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, provided Fox News Digital with internal FBI emails and predicating documents related to the investigation. These materials, which were obtained through legally protected whistleblower disclosures, shed new light on the bureau’s handling of the “Arctic Frost” probe and raise further questions about potential political bias within the FBI’s investigative process.
The GOP senators assert that the documents they obtained prove the federal election interference case against Trump originated with FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Timothy Thibault. Fox News Digital previously reported in 2024 that Thibault had been fired from the FBI after violating the Hatch Act by making partisan political posts on social media.
Prior whistleblower testimony alleged that Thibault exhibited a “pattern of active public partisanship,” which potentially influenced investigations into both Trump and Hunter Biden. Grassley publicly disclosed the existence of these whistleblower-provided documents during the Senate Judiciary Committee’s confirmation hearing for Trump’s nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel, on Thursday. One email, obtained and reviewed by Fox News Digital, revealed Thibault communicating with a subordinate agent on Feb. 14, 2022. Thibault wrote: “Here is draft opening language we discussed,” and attached material that would later become part of special counsel Jack Smith’s elector case.
Another email, sent by Thibault on Feb. 24, 2022, to a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, John Crabb, said: “I had a discussion with the case team and we believe there to be predication to include former President of the United States Donald J. Trump as a predicated subject.” Sources told Fox that Thibault initiated the investigation despite lacking the authority to do so. In his role, Thibault was not authorized to open criminal investigations, as that power is reserved only for special agents within the FBI.
Another email, sent on the same day, indicates that Thibault planned to seek approval from then-Attorney General Merrick Garland and thenFBI Director Christopher Wray to formally open the case. Subsequently, on February 25, 2022, an email from subordinate agent Michelle Ball to Thibault confirmed that Trump and others had been added as criminal subjects in the investigation. Thibault then responded: “Perfect.”
The fifth email, reviewed by Fox News Digital, shows Thibault sending a version of the investigative opening for approval—but notably, Trump was not listed as a criminal subject in this version. The sixth email, dated April 11, 2022, reveals that Thibault personally approved the opening of Arctic Frost. Just two days later, on April 13, 2022, another email from an FBI agent to Thibault confirmed that the FBI deputy director had also signed off on the case. Additionally, another email reviewed by Fox shows Thibault notifying Crabb that the elector case had been officially approved, leading Crabb to respond: “Thanks a lot. Let’s talk next week.”
Fox added: “The email records appear to show that an official in the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section, Richard Pilger, reviewed and approved the FBI’s Arctic Frost investigation, authorizing DOJ to move forward with a full field criminal and grand jury investigation that ultimately transformed into Special Counsel Jack Smith’s Trump-elector case.”
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