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Arctic Frost Unfrozen — What the Senate Just Revealed · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

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  Speaker 1: If our Republican majority stand up for these priorities, the
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  Speaker 1: American people will stand with us in record numbers. We
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  Speaker 1: have to be strong, we have to be tough, and
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  Speaker 1: we can't let these thugs on the other side of
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  Speaker 1: the aisle push us around because what they're doing right
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  Speaker 1: now is wrong and the public knows it.
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  Speaker 2: Now.
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  Speaker 1: The public knows it, and they're on our side. But
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  Speaker 1: you have to fight, and you have to be tough.
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  Speaker 3: You have to be much tougher.
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  Speaker 1: Then you have to stick together. Republicans have to stick together.
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  Speaker 3: You're listening to the forty seven Morning Update with Ben ferguson.
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  Speaker 2: Good Thursday morning. Nice to have you with us on
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  Speaker 2: the forty seven Morning Update. It's called a modern day Watergate.
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  Speaker 2: You've got a deep dive into the bombshell Senate Judiciary
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  Speaker 2: hearing on Arctic.
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  Speaker 4: Frost and now what we know about Jack Smith.
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  Speaker 2: He was spying on anyone that he could, it was
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  Speaker 2: connected to Donald Trump and then trying to create crimes
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  Speaker 2: out of thin air.
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  Speaker 4: Will some of these people be held accountable?
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  Speaker 2: That's exactly what the Senate Committee is doing as we speak,
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  Speaker 2: and we've got the highlights.
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  Speaker 4: It's the forty seven Morning Update. And it starts right.
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  Speaker 3: Now story number one.
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  Speaker 2: We are learning a lot more now in the bombshell
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  Speaker 2: Senate Judiciary hearing on Arctic Frost and exactly just how
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  Speaker 2: corrupt the Biden administration really was. Now, before I get
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  Speaker 2: into what the Senate Judiciary Committee told us today, let
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  Speaker 2: me just remind you what Arctic Frost was all about.
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  Speaker 2: It was the internal code name tied to that federal
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  Speaker 2: investigation effort that was launched during the Biden Air Department
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  Speaker 2: of Justice, an operation that, according to multiple whistleblowers and
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  Speaker 2: internal memos now is coming to light. It was designed
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  Speaker 2: to track and build cases tied to election related activity,
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  Speaker 2: political organizing, and what officials labeled as domestic extremism risk networks. Now,
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  Speaker 2: on paper, it was framed as a national security initiative,
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  Speaker 2: but the reality was it was all about doing political
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  Speaker 2: surveillance on Donald Trump and many of his allies. And now,
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  Speaker 2: thanks to the Senate Judiciary hearing, we're getting a much
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  Speaker 2: clearer picture of what was really going on behind the scenes.
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  Speaker 2: The hearing turned into nothing short of a political earthquake.
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  Speaker 2: Senators revealed new testimony and internal communications tied directly to
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  Speaker 2: Special Counsel Jack Smith and what he allegedly demanded during
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  Speaker 2: the height of Arctic frost and the operation Now. According
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  Speaker 2: to the documents that were presented during the hearing, Smith
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  Speaker 2: pushed for expanded authority to subpoena communications tied not just
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  Speaker 2: to suspects, but to broader networks of individuals. He reportedly
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  Speaker 2: advocated for aggressive timelines, demanding prosecutors moved fast master than
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  Speaker 2: traditional thresholds would normally allow, and most explosively. Lawmakers revealed
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  Speaker 2: discussions suggesting an effort to directly link political speech in
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  Speaker 2: organizing activity to potential criminal exposure. Let me say that again,
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  Speaker 2: this wasn't just about investigating crimes. They wanted you to
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  Speaker 2: believe that, But what it was actually about was weaponizing
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  Speaker 2: and redefining what could be considered a crime to lock
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  Speaker 2: up Donald Trump in his allies. Now, According to testimony,
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  Speaker 2: Smith wanted broader use of material witness warrants, even in
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  Speaker 2: cases where individuals had not been charged. That is what
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  Speaker 2: you call a phishing exploration, hoping to find a crime
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  Speaker 2: with no crime that had actually been committed that you
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  Speaker 2: knew about. He supported also using digital survey Aleen's tools
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  Speaker 2: to map associations between the political activists that he wanted
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  Speaker 2: to go after. That was the tree connected to Donald
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  Speaker 2: Trump at the top, and he reportedly pushed the Department
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  Speaker 2: of Justice teams to build cases as he described it outward,
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  Speaker 2: meaning start first with a target aka Donald Trump or
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  Speaker 2: one of his associates, and then expand the net until
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  Speaker 2: something actionable is found or appeared. This is a stunning
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  Speaker 2: admission by those at the hearing, making it clear that yes,
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  Speaker 2: they didn't know of any crimes had been committed by
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  Speaker 2: Trump or anyone around him. They instead just said we're
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  Speaker 2: going to pick someone and then find a crime that
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  Speaker 2: we can charge them with to shut them down politically.
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  Speaker 2: This literally flips the entire justice system on its head. Now,
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  Speaker 2: in America, you investigate a crime and then find a suspect,
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  Speaker 2: but not under the Biden administration or regime. They picked
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  Speaker 2: the target first, then went looking for a crime that
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  Speaker 2: they could create out of thin air. Yes, this is
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  Speaker 2: a grotesque abuse of power. Republican members the Senate Judiciary
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  Speaker 2: Committee did not hold back. They described arctic frost as
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  Speaker 2: a weaponized pipeline inside the DOJ, a system that allowed
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  Speaker 2: federal prosecutors to test legal theories on political opponents, and
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  Speaker 2: a framework that risked turning the justice system into a
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  Speaker 2: tool of intimidation. Several senators pointed to internal language suggesting
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  Speaker 2: the traditional safeguards probable cause, evidentiary thresholds prosecutorial restraints were
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  Speaker 2: seen as quote unquote just obstacles rather than protections of
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  Speaker 2: those that are innocent. And that's what the abusive power
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  Speaker 2: argument became central. Because federal authority is used not just
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  Speaker 2: to enforce the law, but to reinterpret it and apply
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  Speaker 2: it selectively.
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  Speaker 4: Then you don't just have a legal issue, you have
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  Speaker 4: a constitutional one. Now.
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  Speaker 2: President Trump responded swiftly and forcefully and remarks following the hearing,
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  Speaker 2: Trump described the revelations as one of the most dangerous
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  Speaker 2: abusive powers ever uncovered in Washington. President Trump didn't stop there.
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  Speaker 2: He also went on to say that Arctic frost was
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  Speaker 2: a coordinated effort to silence political opposition under the guise
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  Speaker 2: of law enforcement. Trump also reiterated a core argument he
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  Speaker 2: made repeatedly, the federal agencies were turned against the American people,
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  Speaker 2: and that was clearly revealed in the hearing. And it
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  Speaker 2: proves the system was rigged at the highest levels. Now,
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  Speaker 2: if you want to know just how political this was,
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  Speaker 2: I want you to take a listen to this part
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  Speaker 2: of the shocking amount of data that came out. Senator
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  Speaker 2: Cruz confirming that Biden's FBI wired tapped the current White
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  Speaker 2: House Chief of Staff, Susie Wilds, during a privileged call
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  Speaker 2: with her lawyer, without the consent of either party. Yes,
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  Speaker 2: so much for client privilege with your attorney. No, they said,
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  Speaker 2: we don't care. We want to listen in because we're
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  Speaker 2: trying to find anything we can on Donald Trump.
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  Speaker 5: Jack Smith issued nearly two hundred subpoenas. Is that correct. Yes,
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  Speaker 5: those subpoenas targeted over four hundred Republican individuals and organizations. Correct, Correct,
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  Speaker 5: many of whom had no connection to those who entered
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  Speaker 5: the Capitol on January sixth.
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  Speaker 4: Correct.
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  Speaker 5: Absolutely, And in fact, some of those organizations didn't even
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  Speaker 5: exist on January sixth.
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  Speaker 4: Is that correct?
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  Speaker 3: It is.
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  Speaker 5: So we're not talking about a narrow investigation. We're talking
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  Speaker 5: about a sweeping operation targeting virtually the entirety of the
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  Speaker 5: other side.
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  Speaker 6: Politically, it was a fishing expedition.
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  Speaker 5: So let's turn to the constitution. Subpoenaing the tall records
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  Speaker 5: of members of Congress, does that raise serious constitutional concerns?
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  Speaker 6: Absolutely? And in fact, we have the pen who notified
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  Speaker 6: the Special Consul's office of those concerns, and jack Smith
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  Speaker 6: had apparently said that he was going to consult with
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  Speaker 6: the Solicitor General, according to the release of the information
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  Speaker 6: from Senator Grassley this morning. Yet when he was deposed
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  Speaker 6: by the House and was specifically asked if he spoke
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  Speaker 6: with the Solicitor General, he said on this discrete issue, no, among.
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  Speaker 5: Other issues, it raises significant issues with the Speech and
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  Speaker 5: Debate clause.
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  Speaker 6: Correct.
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  Speaker 5: So much so that, as you noted, when when Jacksmith's
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  Speaker 5: subpoenat AT and T to get my toll records, AT
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  Speaker 5: and T refused to comply with the subpoena because they
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  Speaker 5: concluded that it violated the Speech and debate clauses, that correct.
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  Speaker 6: Absolutely correct, and they backed down.
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  Speaker 5: Jack Smith did not try to enforce that subpoena, didty
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  Speaker 5: He did not. He did not go to court and
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  Speaker 5: litigate the matter, did he?
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  Speaker 6: He did not?
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  Speaker 5: Does that suggest, as it does to me, that he
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  Speaker 5: knew damn well what he was doing was illegal and
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  Speaker 5: would not be upheld in court.
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  Speaker 6: It does suggest that.
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  Speaker 5: When the federal government subpoenas donor lists internal communications organization records,
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  Speaker 5: does that implicate the First Amendment and also freedom association
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  Speaker 5: in particular?
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  Speaker 6: It does, and the Supreme Court made that clear in
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  Speaker 6: the ENDULACP.
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  Speaker 5: Case Mimss Chamberlain. Aside from the legal violations, what specific crimes,
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  Speaker 5: if any, were actually covered as a result of the
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  Speaker 5: Arctic Frost investigation?
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  Speaker 7: I'm not aware of any crimes that were uncovered.
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  Speaker 5: Would the senators, donors, organizations, and individuals who were surveilled
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  Speaker 5: and subpoenaed have ever learned about the Arctic Frost investigation
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  Speaker 5: had Trump not one in twenty twenty.
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  Speaker 7: Four, Probably not, mainly because of these non disclosure orders,
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  Speaker 7: but also I mean the fact that a lot of
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  Speaker 7: these records were now just learning about them because they
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  Speaker 7: were in these prohibited access files only available to their
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  Speaker 7: FBI director. So if the FBI director is a Democrat,
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  Speaker 7: there's no reason to think we know about them.
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  Speaker 5: How would you compare the scope of the violations in
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  Speaker 5: Arctic Frost to Watergate?
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  Speaker 7: I think, if anything, it might even be greater. I
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  Speaker 7: mean the scope of this in terms of the sheer
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  Speaker 7: number of people and organizations affected, And as I discussed,
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  Speaker 7: I mean this brazen violation of attorney client privileged wiretapping
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  Speaker 7: a phone call between Susie Wilds and her lawyer. These
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  Speaker 7: are just offenses. And you know, if Watergate was just
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  Speaker 7: about a single break in, I mean this is effectively,
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  Speaker 7: you know, compound that by two hundred.
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  Speaker 2: You may have heard that shocking revelation no crimes were
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  Speaker 2: found in Operation Arctic Frost because it wasn't about crimes.
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  Speaker 2: It was about framing your political opponent and trying to
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  Speaker 2: entrap them and charge them with crimes that you made
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  Speaker 2: out of thin air. Center Cruz wrapped it up perfectly
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  Speaker 2: when he said this at the Judiciary hearing.
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  Speaker 5: Watergate was about a handful of files in a single office.
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  Speaker 5: This reached into tens of thousands of private communications, emails, records,
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  Speaker 5: and personal data, tall records, bank records, donor lists, law
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  Speaker 5: firm records, and other personal files relating to every major
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  Speaker 5: conservative organization or subpoena.
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  Speaker 2: That is a perfect example of just how widespread the
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  Speaker 2: abuse of power really was. And now the question is
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  Speaker 2: will those that abuse their power be held to account?
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  Speaker 2: That's exactly what Judiciary Committee seems to be working towards.
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  Speaker 2: And not only were they going after the president, they
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  Speaker 2: were also going after major conservative organizations. Turning Point, USA,
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  Speaker 2: America First Policy Institute, even the Republican National Committee, so
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  Speaker 2: this may be just the tip of the iceberg.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you for listening to the forty seven Morning Update
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  Speaker 3: with Ben Ferguson. Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever
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  Speaker 3: you're listening to this podcast right now and for more
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  Speaker 3: and we will see you back here tomorrow.