FBI shuts down corruption group, fires agents after they monitored GOP lawmakers

The FBI has shut down a group tasked with investigating public corruption and fired several agents, FBI Director Kash Patel said Tuesday. Why it matters: The firings come after a Monday report from Fox News that indicated agents had monitored communications from nearly a dozen Republican senators as part of former special counsel Jack Smith's investigation into President Trump's alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election. In a post on X, Patel said that CR-15, which aided in Smith's probe, was "dismantled" after they "weaponized law enforcement against the American people.""Transparency and accountability aren't slogans, they're promises kept," Patel wrote.It was unclear if the CR-15 agents were fired or simply reassigned. State of play: According to the document obtained by Fox News, nine Republican senators had their communications monitored by the task force, including Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.). The document states that the agents, under a team called "Arctic Fox," "conducted preliminary toll analysis" of communications from the senators. An FBI source told Fox News that the data provided would include which numbers the lawmakers called, where the calls originated from and where they were picked up. The FBI did not respond to Axios' request for comment, and Axios was unable to verify the reporting from Fox News. Sen. Chuck Grassley, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Monday he obtained the original document, which included Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) listed among those who were monitored. "Based on the evidence to-date, Arctic Frost and related weaponization by federal law enforcement under Biden was arguably worse than Watergate," Grassley said in a statement. Flashback: The Arctic Fox investigation was started in April 2022 by then-FBI agent Timothy Thibault and transferred to Smith in November 2022. Smith filed his 176-page report in January, months after the case against Trump was dismissed at his request. Smith's request came after the Supreme Court ruled that presidents have immunity for "certain acts" while in office. The White House did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.

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