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Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, on Thursday released a Justice Department memo from April 2022 showing then-Attorney General Merrick Garland, then-Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco and then-FBI Director Christopher Wray personally approved an FBI investigation into alleged efforts by Trump campaign associates to obstruct the Congressional certification of the 2020 election.
Grassley released the four-page memorandum on
The Iowa Republican added: “My monitoring will continue. »
The April 2022 memo, signed by Garland, Monaco and Wray, authorized the FBI’s Washington field office to open what the bureau called a “sensitive investigative file.” The document details the FBI’s request to examine whether individuals linked to Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign conspired to obstruct Congress’ certification of the Electoral College on January 6, 2021.
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“Following the 2020 presidential and vice presidential elections, in an apparent effort to obstruct Congress’ certification of the Electoral College, fraudulent certificates of electors’ votes were submitted to the Archivist of the United States, purporting to represent the actual votes of electors in the states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin,” reads the summary. “Open source reporting and public statements made by individuals closely associated with Donald J. Trump, Inc. (Trump Campaign) present an explicit factual basis indicating the existence of a federal crime, and the FBI therefore seeks to initiate a full investigation.
“Given that this investigation involves a SIM as outlined in the Department of Justice memorandum dated February 5, 2020, titled “Additional Requirements for Initiating Certain Sensitive Investigations” (DOJ Memo), your authorization is required before the WFO can initiate this full investigation,” the document continues.
Monaco wrote at the bottom of the document: “Merrick – I recommend that you approve,” before initialing it and dating it 4/5/22. Garland ultimately signed off on the investigation that same day.
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Senator Chuck Grassley released a memo from former FBI Director Christopher Wray to former Attorney General Merrick Garland to open an investigation into the Trump campaign in April 2022 for allegedly trying to interfere with Congress’ certification of the 2020 election. (Samuel Corum-Pool, Anna Moneymaker and Anna Moneymaker via Getty Images)
The authorization came more than a year after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol and months before former special counsel Jack Smith was appointed to oversee related investigations. The memo appears to document a first step in the Justice Department’s review of so-called “fake voter” efforts, which became the subject of Smith’s investigation.
In 2023, Smith subpoenaed phone records belonging to eight Republican senators and one House member, covering a four-day period – January 4-7, 2021 – to examine call activity surrounding the Capitol riot. The subpoenas did not seek the contents of the calls but instead listed numbers, dates and durations.
Targeted senators included Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Josh Hawley of Missouri and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
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U.S. Special Advisor Jack Smith speaks during a news conference in Washington, DC, Tuesday, August 1, 2023. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
In addition to the eight senators, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Tuesday that he recently discovered that Smith had also tried to subpoena his toll records, but his phone company, AT&T, had not turned them over.
Smith said the documents were narrowly tailored and “completely accurate,” adding that they were intended to support his investigation into Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Senator Chuck Grassley, Republican of Iowa and Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, speaks during a hearing in Washington, DC, U.S., Tuesday, September 16, 2025. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
His lawyers wrote to Grassley, saying the subpoenas were consistent with Justice Department policy and were routine.
Republicans have widely claimed they were inappropriately spied on and compared Arctic Frost to the Watergate scandal. Smith’s lawyers stressed the normalcy of the search for phone records and said officials are not immune from investigation.
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Smith’s lawyers also disputed FBI Director Kash Patel’s accusations that the subpoenas were hidden, noting that the requests were referenced in a footnote in Smith’s final report and shared with Trump’s defense team during discovery.
Ashley Oliver of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
