Then-Attorney General Merrick Garland and then-FBI Director Christopher A. Wray approved a broad criminal investigation into President Trump and other Republicans based on Mr. Trump’s efforts in 2020 to challenge his losses in seven swing states.
In a newly declassified 2022 memo released Thursday, Mr. Wray justified opening the “Arctic Frost” probe that became the basis to indict the former president on federal charges of election interference.
The FBI’s Washington Field Office, in an April 5, 2022, memo to Mr. Garland, sought to open “a full sensitive investigative matter,” based on “evidence that presents specific and articulable facts that individuals known and unknown,” tried to obstruct Congress from certifying the presidential election on Jan. 6, 2021.
At the bottom of the memo, Mr. Wray included a handwritten note: “Merrick — I recommend you approve — CW.”
The sprawling probe investigated not only Mr. Trump, but also a host of other Republicans involved in the election’s aftermath. The probe led the FBI to secretly collect the cellphone data of eight Republican senators, among them the then-chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
Mr. Grassley, posting on social media Thursday, heaped criticism on Mr. Wray and Mr. Garland.
“Just received this doc from DOJ Proof that Biden Attorney General Merrick Garland and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco and FBI Director Chris Wray all PERSONALLY APPROVED opening Arctic Frost,” Mr. Grassley said. “This investigation unleashed unchecked government power at the highest levels. My oversight will continue.”
Sen. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, who is the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, did not respond to a request for a comment about the newly declassified memo.
Democrats have largely backed the federal probe and subsequent indictment of Mr. Trump for election interference following the 2020 election. The case was thrown out late last year.
The newly declassified four-page memo, a Grassley aide said, shows “the limited detail and basis” for opening the investigation.
In the days following the election, Mr. Trump contested results in key swing states where Mr. Biden’s lead was minuscule. Mr. Trump sought recounts in some states, and results were challenged in court, though unsuccessfully, based on election irregularity concerns.
Republicans in the contested swing states devised a plan to stop the certification of Mr. Biden’s victory while the results were under challenge and appointed a slate of new electors who would choose Mr. Trump and not Mr. Biden as the winner.
Certificates of electors’ votes that had declared Mr. Trump the winner were sent to the Archivist of the United States from the seven swing states, and Mr. Wray indicated in the memo that the effort appeared coordinated and linked directly to the Trump campaign.
Among the evidence was a recording from “an individual purporting to be an elector” from Michigan who claimed that “the Trump campaign asked us to do that.”
The Wray memo also cited comments from individuals made on podcasts and CNN describing the dual elector plan.
“A review of the apparently fraudulent elector certificates, along with the aforementioned open source reporting and public statements made by individuals closely affiliated with the Trump campaign, reasonably indicate the existence of a federal crime,” Mr. Wray wrote.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, testifying earlier this month before the Senate Judiciary Committee, called the spying on Congress members a “historic betrayal of public trust.”
Ms. Bondi said they have identified a total of 92 Republican individuals and GOP-friendly groups that were targeted for intrusive scrutiny by the Biden-era FBI.
Mr. Wray resigned in January, after Mr. Trump indicated he planned to fire him.
