Sen. Bill Hagerty has created a legal defense fund in response to the Biden administration’s “Arctic Frost” investigation, which probed some federal lawmakers’ phone records related to President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
The fund is “is necessitated by, and intended to defray, legal expenses and related expenses I incur and am responsible for in connection with proceedings arising from the acquisition of cell phone records by the Federal Bureau of Investigation related to my service as a Member of the United States Senate,” Hagerty wrote in an affidavit included in the defense fund’s organizational documents, which NOTUS obtained from the U.S. Senate.
The documents, first reported by Tennessee Lookout, indicate Hagerty is represented by David Thompson and Clark Hildabrand of Cooper & Kirk. The trustee of the fund is John Rader, Hagerty’s former chief of staff.
Hagerty’s office did not respond to requests for comment about how much the fund — officially named the WFH Legal Expense Trust and created in December — has raised.
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A Department of Justice spokesperson said, “This Department of Justice is committed to working with Congress to end weaponization and shed light on the Biden Administration’s unconstitutional and undemocratic abuse of power.” The FBI declined to comment.
In October, the Senate Judiciary Committee concluded that Hagerty and eight other Republican lawmakers were targeted in the investigation: Sens. Lindsey Graham, Josh Hawley, Dan Sullivan, Tommy Tuberville, Ron Johnson, Cynthia Lummis and Marsha Blackburn, as well as Rep. Mike Kelly.
None of the lawmakers responded to NOTUS’ requests for comment except the office of Lummis, which said she has not created a legal defense fund nor does she feel the need to.
In December, Republican Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley announced his committee would investigate the Arctic Frost investigation.
Then, in a February press release, Hagerty announced he filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission, claiming that Verizon violated federal law by disclosing his phone records to the FBI under former President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice.
“Verizon eagerly handed my private phone records without a fight,” Hagerty said in the release. “I’ve been a customer for decades—Verizon’s complicity in the witch hunt against President Trump and his supporters, like me, constitutes a profound breach of trust. If this can happen to a sitting United States Senator, it can happen to any American. We need accountability.”
Verizon did not respond to a request for comment.
Hagerty isn’t the only senator to create a legal defense fund in response to government actions.
Democratic Sens. Elissa Slotkin and Mark Kelly created legal defense funds after Trump accused them of sedition, “punishable by death.” Sen. Adam Schiff also created a legal defense fund in preparation for legal action against him by the Trump administration.
Senators’ legal defense funds are subject to strict fundraising and disclosure rules, with individual donations capped at $10,000. The funds must themselves file quarterly reports with the Senate Ethics Committee identifying donors who have given more than $25.
Several classes of people and entities — corporations, unions, lobbyists, foreign agents and Senate employees among them — are prohibited from contributing at all.
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