Along with eight Republican senators, whose phone records were monitored, approximately 100 individuals and conservative groups have learned they were investigated by Smith as part of his January 6-related investigation of Donald Trump.
Smith’s investigation of then-former President Trump led to four federal charges against him, in August 2023, but those charges were dropped after Trump won election last fall.
The scope and depth of Smith’s investigation went public Oct. 7, when Sen. Chuck Grassley revealed it at a bombshell press conference. That revelation included a declassified FBI document, six pages long. It lists the banks that were contacted, and the people and groups that are their customers.
On page six, near the bottom, is the Public Interest Legal Foundation and its bank, PNC Bank.
J. Christian Adams, who leads PILF, tells AFN the election watchdog was never involved in the January 6 riot or in any effort to challenge the outcome of the presidential election.
In fact, after the election, Adams and PILF treaded carefully to avoid more controversial topics such as the Dominion voting machines and accusations of a “stolen election.”
Adams and PILF typically address more mundane election fraud, such as unpurged voter rolls and mail-in ballots.
“Yet we got secret subpoenas to our bank,” he says. “That's outrageous. That should never happen.”
The public now knows Smith’s investigation of Trump was aided by FBI agents within the bureau’s public corruption unit. That special unit, named CR-15, was disbanded by FBI Director Kash Patel one day after Grassley’s press conference.
In a statement to Fox News, Patel said he is “identifying the rot, removing those who weaponized law enforcement for political purposes, and those who do not meet the standards of this mission while restoring integrity to the FBI.”
Adams tells AFN he personally contacted Sen. Grassley after the revelation. The election attorney asked Grassley to doggedly pursue answers because it appears the Biden administration saw an opportunity to see donor lists in the bank records.
“I think that's part of what was going on, too,” Adams warns. “They wanted to see who donors were, and they don't have a right to see who donors are. That's private information. But the FBI went after it.”
PILF has submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the FBI for documents related to "Operation Arctic Frost" snooping on the election integrity group.
