Partisan prosecutors at the Biden administration’s Department of Justice charged forward with an investigation into Republican members of Congress after privately saying the primary evidence lacked credibility, new records show.
The documents, released by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, on Tuesday, show the beginnings of “Operation Rampart 12.” The operation, which the FBI launched to investigate multiple Republican members of Congress based on claims that they assisted Jan. 6 Capitol rioters, is believed to be a predecessor case to the get-Trump lawfare operation Arctic Frost.
Biden’s FBI opened Rampart Twelve on Jan. 22, 2021. Then-Rep. Mikie Sherrill’s accusations against congressional colleagues formed the primary basis of the investigation, which was carried forward by several DOJ and FBI officials whose private communications reveal there was no legitimate basis for it. Sherrill is now the Democrat governor of New Jersey.
“The Democrats have supported these fired former Biden Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI officials. But, as the records show, these fired officials weren’t protecting our country,” Grassley wrote in an opening statement for a Senate hearing on Arctic Frost on Tuesday. “They were literally trying to destroy it.”
J.P. Cooney and Molly Gaston — both of whom later worked with Jack Smith on his anti-Trump legal campaign — were the “two partisan prosecutors” who decided to move forward with the investigations into Reps. Lauren Boebert, Paul Gosar, Andy Biggs, and Mo Brooks. The move came after Sherrill alleged on a Jan. 12, 2021, Facebook Live stream that some Republican members had led “reconnaissance” tours of the U.S. Capitol prior to Jan. 6 in order to allow them to map out the forthcoming riot.
The corporate media trumpeted Sherrill’s allegations at the time, and she led a group of more than 30 House Democrats in sending a letter to the House and Senate sergeants-at-arms demanding information about Jan. 5 visitors. The FBI obtained phone toll records for Boebert and Gosar, according to the documents, much in the same way that Arctic Frost fraudulently obtained phone records of other Republicans on Capitol Hill.
“What you’ll find in the available records is that the evidence to support the investigation didn’t exist,” Grassley wrote.
In a Jan. 13, 2021, text to Cooney, Gaston stated, “so mickie [sic] sherrill has such important groundbreaking information that she has agreed to talk to amanda … friday.”
Cooney said of Sherrill, “that is embarrassing … appalling,” to which Gaston replied, “i hate politicians.”
Cooney then said, “me too … makes her allegations completely incredible.”
On Jan. 16, Cooney texted Gaston regarding video footage of Boebert in the Capitol, noting that Boebert was “near Sherrill.” But she was “not with others,” Cooney confirmed to Gaston.
“There is a maga hat group about a minute behind her … but it’s a family — with kids,” Cooney said.
There was another person in the tourist group taking pictures, whom Cooney described as “weird” but “not … suspicious.”
Gaston wanted to focus on “figur[ing] out what time the goasar [sic] thing happened … and get that video.”
Cooney replied, “i’m telling you though — this tour/map thing has legs … this makes perfect sense to me … proving the member’s intent might be impossible … but i am fairly confident that we are going to put a map or some other information relevant to coordinated activity in the hands of an extremist group, and trace it back to a congressional office.”
In the text messages, despite admitting that the video evidence contradicted claims that Boebert led a “reconnaissance” tour through the Capitol because she was not even with the group in question, Cooney and Gaston appeared to be persistently disappointed and frustrated by the lack of evidence to justify an investigation, while persisting in the belief that “the information is out there.”
Grassley noted that within months of opening Rampart Twelve, the FBI still had no evidence linking Boebert and Gosar to the allegations against them. A document drafted by “partisan anti-Trump FBI Agent Timothy Thibault” says the FBI reviewed the representatives’ toll records and “video footage from key areas of the Capitol,” again confirming that the FBI lacked evidence on Boebert and Gosar.
Normally, preliminary investigations remain open for about six months before being closed due to lack of evidence, Grassley noted. But when FBI Public Corruption Unit agent Leanna Saler notified Thibault that Rampart Twelve “expires on July 22,” Thibault decided to “extend and cite we are awaiting HQ guidance,” while providing zero justification for the decision. “Cooney, Gaston, Saler and Thibault’s partisan, weaponized investigation would continue until it was shut down by FBI Headquarters January 27, 2022, a full year after it was opened,” Grassley wrote.
The released documents also reveal that Cooney and Gaston also schemed on how to “circumvent” Congress’s Speech or Debate Clause in Article I, Section 6 of the U.S. Constitution, and the statutory barriers put in place to protect congressional toll records.
“The conversation between these two — where they’re trying to circumvent the law — creates more questions about Jack Smith, J.P. Cooney and Molly Gaston’s secretive efforts to obtain Member toll records,” Grassley said. “All these records, taken together, show partisan prosecutors and FBI agents used dubious allegations to pursue political investigations against Republican Members of Congress.”
