The FBI had a potential “October Surprise” involving alleged casino gambling through payments made from Trump campaign funds in 2020, based on “Arctic Frost” documents released by FBI Director Kash Patel to Congress.
“A memo buried in the middle of the 235-page evidence production that Patel sent the House Judiciary Committee this week chronicles how the FBI’s Washington Field Office rifled through financial records and campaign expenditure reports producing a ‘tactical intelligence report,’” Just the News reported.
The report sought to link the Trump campaign to the vendor American Made Media Consultants, arguing that an employee went gambling after receiving campaign dollars for work he allegedly did.
The report, dated Oct. 21, 2020, said, “FBI Washington Field Office assesses the use of American Made Media Consultants (AMMC) as a clearinghouse for Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. (the Trump campaign) spending is likely vulnerable to campaign finance crimes by campaign-connected sub-vendors.”
“FBI Washington Field Office assesses [name redacted] likely used Trump campaign funds disbursed through AMMC to gamble at casinos, including MGM National Harbor,” the memo read.
According to Just the News, “The campaign official, whose name is redacted throughout the FBI report, was identified as the Trump campaign digital director. While not named in the report, Gary Coby became Trump’s digital director in January 2019, and served in that role throughout the campaign season.”
The FBI report said it saw a correlation between the amounts of money the campaign official received through AMMC and the increased spending at casinos.
“This assessment is based on the timing of the formation of AMMC and the sudden increase in gambling at casinos by [redacted] that followed,” the intelligence report read.
The FBI drafters of the report recommended further actions toward opening “a predicated investigation into Federal election crimes,” although they admitted their assessment that a crime occurred was of “low confidence.”
Will Patel and Bongino find even more deep-state plots to take down Trump?
Just the News noted the FBI investigation into AMMC appeared to have been launched as a result of a watchdog group accusing the company of being used as a “pass-through” by the Trump campaign to obscure the nature of payments being made.
“The watchdog, the Campaign Legal Center, a non-partisan 501(c)3 charity, accused the campaign of obscuring about $170 million worth of campaign spending through pass-through vendors, like AMMC, ABC News reported at the time. The Campaign Legal Center was founded by Trevor Potter, general counsel to both of Senator John McCain’s presidential campaigns,” the outlet said.
The FBI memo was part of the “Arctic Frost” documents released by Patel, which laid the predicate for special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Trump and his associates.
“Arctic Frost was the vehicle by which FBI agents and DOJ prosecutors could improperly investigate the entire Republican political apparatus,” Iowa GOP Sen. Grassley, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a video posted to X.
“Contrary to what Smith has said publicly, this was clearly a fishing expedition,” he added.
In the post, the Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans characterized it as “worse than Watergate.”
The Biden FBI and DOJ used its indiscriminate Arctic Frost investigation to improperly investigate the entire Republican political apparatus.
This was a fishing expedition that showcased weaponization worse than Watergate. pic.twitter.com/MYsY7PxZR5
— Senate Judiciary Republicans (@SenJudiciaryGOP) October 30, 2025
On Wednesday, Grassley made public 197 subpoenas issued by Smith. The subpoenas requested information on 430 named Republican people and entities, according to a news release issued by the Senate Judiciary Committee. The list included banks, political action committees, companies, and individuals.
Arctic Frost came on top of the FBI and the Department of Justice’s 2016 Crossfire Hurricane investigation into Trump and his campaign, which led to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s nearly two-year-long probe.
Meanwhile, the FBI shut down an investigation into former first son Hunter Biden’s laptop in 2020.
The DOJ unsuccessfully prosecuted Trump during the 2024 campaign cycle for allegedly mishandling classified documents and seeking to undermine the 2020 election results.
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