Republicans feud over 'Arctic Frost' accountability measure, but critics offer no clear alternative
A new provision allowing senators to sue the Justice Department over secretly subpoenaed phone data has sparked a fierce GOP intraparty clash — with supporters insisting it’s a long-overdue check...
By Fox News · Fox News
A new provision allowing senators to sue the Justice Department over secretly subpoenaed phone data has sparked a fierce GOP intraparty clash — with supporters insisting it’s a long-overdue check on political overreach and critics warning it smacks of self-interest, even as they offer no clear plan to stop future abuses by the executive branch. The provision , added quietly to the bill reopening the government, gave senators an explicit ability to file $500,000 lawsuits against the federal government for damages if they unwittingly had their phone data subpoenaed. It came in response to subpoenas made public by Sen. Chuck Grassley , R-Iowa, that showed former special counsel Jack Smith sought phone records for 10 Republican senators in 2022 as part of the FBI’s sweeping Arctic Frost investigation into President Donald Trump's alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The revelation led Republicans to decry the subpoenas as illegal and intrusive and Arctic Frost as "worse" than the Watergate scandal. Critics, including some House GOP members, argue that the measure amounts to a means of self-enrichment. Supporters say it is necessary to give senators recourse when the executive branch oversteps its constitutional bounds and reaches into congressional communications. GOP UNITY SHATTERED BY CONTROVERSIAL MEASURE IN GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN BILL As is normal for prosecutors when conducting nonpublic inquiries, Smith sought gag orders for his subpoenas, and those orders were authorized by a judge, in this case U.S. District Chief Judge James Boasberg. Boasberg has become a controversial figure due to his role in Arctic Frost; his refusal in 2021 to sentence former FBI attorney Kevin Clinesmith to prison time after he pleaded guilty to doctoring an email asking to extend surveillance permissions against a former Trump adviser; and after he issued a temporary restraining order in March blocking Trump's use of a 1798 wartime law to deport hundreds of Venezuelan nationals.…