Congressional investigators collected tens of millions of phone records in an effort to map connections between conservatives and the Trump White House as part of the Democrat-led Jan. 6 investigation, according to an FBI memo obtained by Just the News.
The memo states the trove, revealed to the FBI by ex-Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger, contained roughly 30 million lines of phone data collected without a warrant, Just the News reported Wednesday. Kinzinger told the bureau the records had been compiled by former GOP Rep. Denver Riggleman, then a senior adviser to the Jan. 6 panel who has since worked for Hunter Biden’s legal team, according to the outlet.
According to the memo, recently uncovered by FBI Director Kash Patel, Kinzinger told the FBI that Riggleman used congressional subpoenas to collect the data, linking millions of phone records, including calls associated with the Trump White House.
“While former congressman Denver Riggleman worked with the Select Committee he (Riggleman) had a contact and was able to obtain toll information including for White House root or switchboard numbers via congressional subpoena,” the FBI agents wrote in their memo, according to the outlet.
“Kinzinger noted that he (Kinzinger) did not conduct the analysis himself but that Riggleman had identified certain telephone connections between numbers identified as being associated with the White House and certain individuals,” the memo continued.
The former Illinois congressman notified the FBI of the records in December 2023, a year after leaving Congress and after the committee had already finished its work, the outlet reported. Kinzinger was one of just two anti-Trump Republicans on the Democrat-led committee, along with former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney.
It’s unclear whether the FBI ultimately took possession of the records, according to Just the News.
The FBI did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment. Neither Kinzinger nor Riggleman could be reached for comment.
The revelations come about a week after reports that former Special Counsel Jack Smith and the FBI’s “Arctic Frost” investigation allegedly collected phone records and personal messages of multiple Republican members of Congress during the Jan. 6 election interference case against President Donald Trump.
Among those targeted were Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, Josh Hawley of Missouri and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee.
The same Biden-era probe targeted dozens of conservative figures and organizations, including Turning Point USA, America First Policy Institute and Save America PAC.
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