The bipartisan funding compromise the Senate passed on Monday night to reopen the federal government includes a provision that will allow Republican senators targeted by the Arctic Frost investigation to seek up to $500,000 in compensation if they take legal action against the government and win, multiple media outlets reported Tuesday.
Arctic Frost was an FBI inquiry into an alleged false electors scheme following the 2020 presidential election and later formed the basis for Special Counsel Jack Smith’s election interference case against President Donald Trump.
Smith used subpoenas and phone records to examine communications by hundreds of Republican figures, including at least nine GOP lawmakers.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who claims he was one of the lawmakers whose data was subpoenaed as part of Smith’s investigation, told Politico on Monday night that Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., was responsible for the provision.
“Leader Thune inserted that in the bill to provide real teeth to the prohibition on the Department of Justice targeting senators,” Cruz said.
The provision would allow the senators to obtain a payout for damages, plus attorneys’ fees, for each time Smith retained their call logs, the Washington Examiner reported Tuesday.
Phone carriers would also be required to immediately notify the senators and their congressional offices if their devices, accounts, records, or communications are sought, unless the lawmakers are under a criminal investigation and subject to a court order barring immediate notice.
“The abuse of power from the Biden Justice Department is the worst single instance of politicization our country has ever seen,” Cruz said. “I think it is [former President] Joe Biden’s Watergate, and the statutory prohibition needs to have real teeth and real consequences.”
During the investigation, Smith sent subpoenas to 34 individuals and 163 businesses in addition to the lawmakers, the Examiner reported. The subpoenas demanded testimony, communications, and records related to at least 430 named Republican individuals and entities targeted by the inquiry.
The bill that includes Thune’s provision passed the Senate after eight Democrats joined their Republican colleagues. It is headed to the House for a final vote before it reaches Trump’s desk.
Democrats on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch were not consulted on the provision as part of the bipartisan bill, Politico reported, citing a senior Democrat legislative aide granted anonymity to speak candidly.
“I am furious that the Senate Minority and Majority Leaders chose to airdrop this provision into this bill at the 11th hour — with zero consultation or negotiation with the subcommittee that actually oversees this work,” said Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., the ranking member of the legislative branch subcommittee, according to Politico.
“This is precisely what’s wrong with the Senate.”
A Senate Democrat leadership aide defended the decision to include the provision, telling Politico, “This protects the institution and senators from an out-of-control [U.S. Attorney General] Pam Bondi-run Department of Justice.”
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