Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is sounding the alarm over what he sees as a blatant overreach of judicial power targeting Republican lawmakers.
Breitbart reported that Cruz called for the House to impeach U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg, accusing him of assisting the FBI in obtaining phone records of GOP senators and a House member during the Biden administration as part of the Arctic Frost probe.
This probe, tied to special counsel Jack Smith’s elector case against former President Donald Trump over alleged efforts to challenge the 2020 election, has unearthed some eyebrow-raising details.
The FBI’s data collection, specifically “tolling data” revealing call times and recipients, zeroed in on personal phones of nine Republican lawmakers in the days surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, recently made public documents related to Arctic Frost, exposing that eight senators and one House member were caught in this digital dragnet.
Cruz, waving a court order from Judge Boasberg to AT&T that barred the company from notifying him about his subpoenaed records for a full year, didn’t mince words about the secrecy.
“Judge Boasberg put his robes down, stood up, and said, ‘Sign me up to be part of the partisan vendetta against 20% of the Republicans in the Senate,’” Cruz declared, painting the judge as a willing participant in what he sees as a targeted attack.
Let’s unpack that—when a federal judge, appointed by President Obama in 2011 and now chief judge in Washington, D.C., signs off on such sweeping surveillance, it’s hard not to question whether the scales of justice are tipping toward political bias.
Cruz’s frustration isn’t just hot air; it’s rooted in a belief that this kind of judicial overreach undermines the very foundation of fair governance.
“Arctic Frost is Joe Biden’s Watergate,” Cruz charged, drawing a sharp historical parallel to a scandal of unchecked power.
Hyperbole? Perhaps, but when you’ve got 197 subpoenas reportedly targeting 430 Republican entities and individuals, as Cruz claims, it starts to smell like a fishing expedition rather than a focused investigation.
Judge Boasberg’s involvement doesn’t stop at phone records—his past rulings, like ordering the release of a woman accused of threatening Trump’s life and blocking deportations of suspected terrorist organization members, only fuel the fire of conservative distrust.
The implications of this surveillance are chilling—lawmakers, elected to represent the people, finding their private communications under the microscope without immediate notification feels like a page out of a dystopian novel.
While some might argue national security justifies such measures, the timing around Jan. 6 and the specific focus on GOP figures raise legitimate concerns about partisan weaponization of the legal system.
As Cruz and fellow Republicans like Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., push for impeachment, the question remains: will the House take up this cause to hold Judge Boasberg accountable, or will this controversy fade into the endless cycle of political theater?