FBI Director Kash Patel just dropped a bombshell by firing agents caught snooping on the phone records of Republican lawmakers in a jaw-dropping overreach of power, as Breitbart reports.

In a stunning revelation, Patel uncovered a secret operation tied to former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s probe into President Donald Trump, where agents tracked communications of eight GOP senators and one congressman, only to bury the evidence in a digital black hole until now.

This covert surveillance, conducted in 2023, targeted prominent Republican figures, including Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, and Josh Hawley of Missouri, among others.

Uncovering hidden digital lockbox

The operation, chillingly codenamed “Arctic Frost,” saw Smith’s team subpoena major phone companies to gather these records, all while keeping the public completely in the dark.

Patel, upon taking the helm at the FBI, stumbled upon hidden files stashed in what he described as a “lockbox” in a cyber vault, designed to be unseen and unsearchable.

“You put it in there when you want to hide it from the world, and that takes the authorization of the attorney general and the director of the FBI,” Patel revealed in a Tuesday interview on Fox News.

Patel takes swift, decisive action

Access to this shadowy vault required top-level clearance, raising serious questions about who knew what and when at the Department of Justice.

Patel didn’t just stop at uncovering the files -- he swung the axe, terminating the agents involved in this secret probe of U.S. lawmakers.

Not content with mere firings, he also dismantled CR-15, the public corruption squad at the Washington Field Office, accusing it of spearheading what he calls a blatant “weaponization” of law enforcement.

Lawmakers react to shocking breach

Among those targeted, Sen. Josh Hawley didn’t mince words, calling the subpoenas “an abuse of power beyond Watergate, beyond J. Edgar Hoover, one that directly strikes at the Constitution, the separation of powers, and the First Amendment.”

Hawley’s outrage echoes a broader concern among conservatives about the erosion of checks and balances when unelected bureaucrats play fast and loose with their authority.

Let’s be clear: targeting sitting senators and a congressman isn’t just a misstep -- it’s a deliberate jab at the very structure of our republic, and the silence from progressive corners on this is deafening.

Broader implications for justice system

Adding fuel to the fire, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel has launched an investigation into Jack Smith to determine if his pursuit of Trump crossed legal lines.

Patel’s actions signal a push to root out what many on the right see as a politicized justice system, though critics might argue this risks turning the FBI into a partisan battleground.

Still, with lawmakers’ private communications dragged into a partisan dragnet, the question remains: if this isn’t a wake-up call to rein in overzealous investigations, what is?