Newly surfaced whistleblower records show that former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigative team collected personal payroll data belonging to the Conservative Partnership Institute (CPI), a prominent conservative organization, as part of the broad investigation known as Arctic Frost.
Independent reporter Catherine Herridge disclosed the finding Friday, citing whistleblower material reportedly obtained by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. According to Herridge, the data was gathered from CPI in February 2023 and “included CPI employees’ medical, dental, and vision insurance coverage, along with a CPI bank statement.”
Herridge noted that the collection of this payroll information “appears to go beyond the scope” of Smith’s original mandate, which was focused on events surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, demonstrations at the Capitol.
CPI Vice President of Programs Rachel Bovard responded to the disclosure, saying she was unable to understand the relevance of the records to any criminal matter.
“I’m at a loss to explain why Jack Smith thought the details of my dental and vision plans were part of a grand political conspiracy against democracy,” Bovard said. “There was no pursuit of justice — there was only weaponizing the legal process to punish Joe Biden’s political enemies.”
Bovard, who also writes as a senior tech columnist, said it was “unconscionable” that the data collection occurred “in the name of ‘justice.'”
Part of a Wider Pattern
Grassley’s office disclosed last year that CPI was one of several conservative organizations swept into the Arctic Frost investigation, with the Biden-era FBI filing subpoenas seeking the groups’ banking and communication records. Those subpoenas specifically named Mark Meadows, who served as Trump’s White House chief of staff, and Cleta Mitchell, chair of the Election Integrity Network, who advised Trump on post-2020 election litigation in Georgia.
Separate records released by the House Judiciary Committee around the same time showed the FBI also targeted CPI President and CEO Ed Corrigan. Those records included communications among FBI officials discussing unverified allegations from an unidentified source claiming Corrigan and Meadows “are engaging in willful criminal activity,” and that Corrigan “has [redacted] properties at which he wants to build up infrastructure to train people for civil war.”
The latest revelation follows a memo Grassley sent to Senate Judiciary Committee colleagues days earlier, which stated that Smith’s team acquired personal information on at least 639,000 Republican voters, donors, and supporters during the Arctic Frost investigation. That information reportedly included names, addresses, and credit card data, along with records of MAGA hat purchases.
