Senator Chuck Grassley, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, addressed the Senate floor on February 5, 2026, to respond to recent reporting by The New York Times that he described as biased against whistleblowers. Grassley criticized a January 18 article by Glenn Thrush, Alan Feuer, and Adam Goldman for what he called an effort "to intimidate, smear and discredit brave and patriotic whistleblowers."
Grassley referenced earlier articles from The New York Times dating back to 2023. He said these reports attempted to undermine his efforts in exposing alleged political conduct within the FBI and Department of Justice. Specifically, he cited a May 18, 2023 article by Adam Goldman about former FBI agent Thibault and subsequent articles that discussed investigations known as Arctic Frost.
According to Grassley, “Goldman wrote his article before knowing all the facts. For one, Thibault was found to have violated the Hatch Act for anti-Trump political conduct at work. Second, Goldman’s article didn’t account for emails I released last year showing Thibault violated the FBI’s rules in opening and advancing Arctic Frost.”
Grassley argued that recent New York Times coverage misrepresented how records were obtained through longstanding congressional oversight requests. He stated: “The House and Senate have finally begun to receive responsive productions to our oversight requests. Some of those requests date back many years.” He credited Attorney General Bondi and Director Patel for improved responsiveness compared with previous administrations.
He also responded to criticism regarding his comments on the FBI's search of Mar-a-Lago: “The Times didn’t include the full tweet. They left out the beginning of the sentence where I said, ‘Based on the records.’ Those records showed that FBI agents had many concerns about the raid... These are records that were covered up by the Biden administration.”
Grassley defended whistleblower disclosures made public during his tenure in Congress. He highlighted instances where agents' attempts at investigations were allegedly obstructed due to political considerations or leadership decisions.
Addressing accusations reported in The New York Times that whistleblower disclosures may have violated grand jury secrecy laws—based on a complaint from prosecutors J.P. Cooney and Molly Gaston—Grassley maintained: “The whistleblower disclosures were to Congress, not the media.” He referenced a Department of Justice opinion memo noting statutory protections for disclosures made directly to Congress.
He further argued: “Thrush, Feuer and Goldman’s opinion piece fails three ways. And they misled the public by creating a false narrative that whistleblower disclosures provided to me and Senator Johnson were somehow illegal.”
Grassley also took issue with comments attributed in The New York Times article to an employee of the Government Accountability Project (GAP), which suggested there was no risk of reprisal for his whistleblowers. According to Grassley: “First, GAP apologized... Second, GAP said the quoted employee ‘is a contract lawyer who wasn’t authorized to speak for the organization beyond his clients.’” He added that GAP did not stand behind this statement because it was speculative rather than evidence-based.
In closing remarks directed at both The New York Times and those providing information under federal protection laws he stated: “To my whistleblowers: I’ll defend you. I’ll protect you. And I’ll continue to make public the records you’ve given me.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee is responsible for legislative review related to constitutional protections and judicial matters nationwide (https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/). It conducts oversight over federal law enforcement agencies while evaluating judicial nominations (https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/). Led by its chairperson—currently Senator Grassley—the committee includes members from both major parties (https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/). Its influence extends across civil rights issues as well as public safety through its standing authority within U.S. Senate operations (https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/).
