Biden White House gave Trump, Pence cellphones to FBI as part of agencys gotcha scheme probing 2020 election
The Biden White House turned over government cellphones belonging to President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence to the FBI in May 2022 as part of a bureau probe into the aftermath of the 2020 election, tying Trump to that investigation without sufficient predication, Fox News Digital has learned.The FBI did not need a warrant to physically obtain the government phones from the Biden White House.But after acquiring the devices, agents began drafting a search warrant to extract the phones’ data, sources familiar with the investigation told Fox News Digital.“The Biden White House played right along with the FBI’s ‘gotcha’ scheme against Trump,” a source familiar with the investigation told Fox News Digital.“Biden’s Office of White House Counsel, under the leadership of Dana Remus and Jonathan Su, gave its blessing and accommodation for the FBI to physically obtain Trump and Pence’s phones in early May 2022.
Weeks later, the FBI began drafting a search warrant to extract the phones’ data.”The phones were obtained and entered as evidence as part of the FBI’s original anti-Trump 2020 election investigation, which eventually was taken over by special counsel Jack Smith.That case was known inside the bureau as “Arctic Frost” and was opened April 13, 2022, by anti-Trump former FBI agent Timothy Thibault. Thibault, according to whistleblowers, broke protocol and played a critical role in opening and advancing the bureau’s original investigation related to the 2020 election, tying Trump to the probe without sufficient predication.Thibault broke protocol by taking action to open the investigation and involve Trump despite being unauthorized to open criminal investigations in his role.Only special agents have the authority to open criminal investigations.Thibault vowed to make the investigation “prioritized over all others in the Branch” and, at the time, commented that “it frankly took too long for us to open t...