Key points:
- The FBI conducted four counterintelligence investigations targeting Trump and hundreds of associates from 2016 to 2025
- Operations included Crossfire Hurricane, Round River, Plasmic Echo, and Arctic Frost
- Investigative files were concealed with "prohibited access" designations, hidden from most bureau agents
- Targets included members of Congress, journalists, lawyers, political advisers, and Trump campaign officials
- Surveillance methods included FISA warrants, wiretaps, phone record analysis, and grand jury subpoenas
- Whistleblowers confirm monitoring continued until Trump's inauguration in January 2025
- At least 1,200 individuals with constitutionally protected privileges were investigated between 2018 and 2024
- Federal prosecutors are now examining whether criminal conspiracy charges are warranted
The hidden surveillance apparatus
The FBI's internal review, led by Director Patel with assistance from whistleblowers and senior bureau executives, has uncovered a disturbing pattern of domestic surveillance that operated beneath the public radar for years. The four operations Crossfire Hurricane, Round River, Plasmic Echo, and Arctic Frost collectively cast a wide net over Trump's political network, capturing hundreds of individuals who had no legitimate connection to foreign intelligence activities.
According to officials familiar with the records, many of these investigative files were deliberately concealed within the FBI's Sentinel case management system using a "prohibited access" designation. This classification allowed senior leadership to tightly control visibility of the materials, effectively hiding them even from most bureau agents who might have questioned their legitimacy. Some records were stored in sensitive compartmented information facilities, the kind of secure spaces typically reserved for the nation's most closely guarded secrets.
One whistleblower told the FBI this month that surveillance and monitoring of individuals connected to Trump continued until the president's inauguration in January 2025, suggesting the investigations persisted even after Trump defeated his Democratic opponent and prepared to return to the White House.
The investigative methods employed against these American citizens read like an intelligence agency's full toolkit. They included warrants, wiretaps, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act monitoring, analysis of phone records, FBI assessments, and grand jury subpoenas. Many of those examined received the classification of "special circumstances targets," a designation typically applied to individuals with constitutionally protected privileges such as lawmakers, journalists, lawyers, or political figures.
The conspiracy question
Perhaps most alarming to civil liberties advocates is the possibility that these actions were not merely bureaucratic overreach but coordinated efforts to target political opponents. A senior official with direct knowledge of the review told Just the News that investigators are finding evidence that could support a conspiracy case.
"There is growing evidence that may support a case that the FBI engaged between 2016 and 2025 in a conspiracy to violate the civil rights of Trump and his supporters under the color of government power," the official said.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon confirmed that federal prosecutors are actively evaluating whether criminal charges could be warranted under the conspiracy against rights statute, a Reconstruction-era law originally designed to combat Ku Klux Klan violence against African Americans.
"The Department of Justice is at the heart of considering these issues right now, so I can't really talk about the specifics, but in general terms, yes, the Civil Rights Division and the DOJ generally does have the tool of a criminal conspiracy statute for conspiracy against rights," Dhillon said. "And this dates back to the start of the Ku Klux Klan."
Dhillon suggested the investigation could reach beyond FBI personnel to include state-level actors who coordinated with federal authorities.
"I would say all of those things are on the table for lawyers and DOJ officials and others who conspired with them at the state level, state prosecutors, state police and so forth, who conspired to violate civil rights, and it could also include executive branch officials from the first administration who knowingly conspired and orchestrated a violation of federal civil rights," she added.
Federal prosecutors in Miami, led by U.S. Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones, are already investigating the weaponization of intelligence and law enforcement powers across three election cycles 2016, 2020, and 2024.
Two of the operations under review have received previous public attention. Crossfire Hurricane investigated allegations that Trump's 2016 campaign coordinated with Russia, claims that were later widely disputed. Evidence connected to that probe includes intelligence reports showing officials misled Congress about the Steele dossier's role in a 2017 intelligence assessment. Arctic Frost focused on Trump's effort to present alternate electors ahead of the 2020 election certification and targeted nearly 400 conservative groups and individuals.
The two remaining investigations, Round River and Plasmic Echo, remain largely classified but are undergoing declassification review for congressional briefings. Officials say Round River, which began in the FBI's Pittsburgh field office targeting Rudy Giuliani after he began investigating Hunter Biden's foreign business activities, may present the most serious questions about investigative standards. The probe later expanded to include other public figures who raised questions about the Biden family's dealings in Ukraine.
According to early whistleblower testimony provided to Congress, investigators may have targeted journalists, filmmakers, lawyers, and lawmakers who publicly discussed the allegations, potentially investigating them solely because their statements were considered potential Russian disinformation.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley has been closely involved in assisting the FBI's review by relaying information from whistleblowers who sought protection from Congress during the Biden administration. In a 2022 letter, Grassley raised concerns about how the bureau handled intelligence related to Hunter Biden.
"The information provided to my office involves concerns about the FBI's receipt and use of derogatory information relating to Hunter Biden, and the FBI's false portrayal of acquired evidence as disinformation," Grassley wrote. "The volume and consistency of these allegations substantiate their credibility and necessitate this letter."
He added that, based on the information provided to his office, "verified and verifiable derogatory information on Hunter Biden was falsely labeled as disinformation."
Officials involved in the ongoing review say decisions about whether criminal charges may be filed against former FBI or Justice Department personnel could be made within the coming weeks as investigators continue evaluating the evidence uncovered in the files.
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